Greece Summary
Greece is located in southeastern Europe and characterized by numerous islands particularly in the Ionian seas and Aegean. Studies have reported that Greece played an influential role during the ancient times and currently it is referred to as a central cradle of Western civilization. Greece is a Parliamentary Republic, and the prime minister is the head of the government. The economy has been performing tremendously over the years and stands at a strategic position throughout the Europe.
Economy
Currently, Greece is the world’s most advanced high-income economy. They joined the EU in 1981 and by 2001, had adopted the euro as their currency, replacing the Greek drachma. The WWII of the years (1939-1945) accounts for what could be termed to have been the greatest impact ever experienced by the Greece’s economy, and this is even though this same economy experienced massive development from 1950 through to 1980 (Cartledge, 2002). Greek economy evolution around the 19th century significantly played a more important role in the country. According to Finley, Shaw & Saller, (1982), around 1833 and 1911, the country experienced an average rate of per capita GDP growth that was significantly lower compared to most Western European countries. In 1826 and 1893, Greece faced a considerable economic hardship which caused it default on their external loans. Its per capita income was 65% in the year 1850 (Kouretas & Vlamis, 2010). Post-World War II development is linked with Greek’s economic success. Their GDP grew rapidly from 2000, which was higher than Euro zone average at about 5.8% and 5.7% in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Great Recession and the government-debt crisis was argued to have plunged the Greece’s economy into a serious downturn that impacted the country’s GDP tremendously.
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Currently, the Greece economy is considered the 46th largest globally with a GDP of approximately $194.851 billion per annum. In addition to this, it was also ranked at position 54 as the largest globally in terms of purchasing power parity at approximately $288.245 billion per annum. By the year 2015, Greece was ranked at position 25 as the biggest economy in a total of 28 EU members. It was further ranked at position 38 and 45 globally at approximately $17,988 GDP per capita and $26,391 purchasing power parity per capita. Greece’s GDP per capita today stands at 26, 379.26 which is lower compared to that of the US which is 56, 115.72 as indicated in the diagram 1 below. Further, their export of goods and services is 62, 186, 803.31 while imports of goods and services is 61, 906, 719, 418.88. The health expenditure stands at 8.084 while adult literacy rate population 15+ year in both sexes stands at 95.293. Reports have shown that Greece is one of the developed economies globally with an economic base founded on service sector of 82.8 percent and the industrial sector with 13.3 percent. The Greece primary industries are tourism and shipping, and in 2013 the country saw 18 million foreign tourists ranking them 7th among the most visited states throughout the EU and 16th globally. In 2013, it was also considered as the largest foreign investor in Albania and the 3rd in Bulgaria.
Government
The ancient Greek was majorly concerned with the aspect of who should rule them and whether sovereign should be founded on the rule of war, constitution, citizens or even officials. Athens’ Constitution initially was referred to as a democracy, and it explicitly respected the minority’s interest (Freeman, 1893). The citizens actively participated in politics during that time. There also emerged monarchies which ruled part of the regions, and they were taking citizen’s interest at heart. Later, Tyrants also came into existence and governed the people but were majorly interested on their needs and interests. Oligarch further was developed and was different from all the former rulers and was considered as a form of city-state government and ruled the Greece people for some time.
Greece government came into being in the year 1974 and was headed by the prime minister. Today, Greece is one of the Parliamentary Republics in the world. Today, the head of the state in Greece is the president who is elected by the parliament. The presidential elections are conducted after a period of five years, and the president upon being sworn in he takes over the state power and runs the affairs of the state. On the other hand, the prime minister is considered the government’s head and collective decision making bodies of the government includes several ministers together with their deputies and the Prime Minister. The president and the parliament have the absolute legislative power. However, the president has partial political power, and the majority of the power is confined to the government. The Greece’s general election is conducted every four years not unless there is the dissolution of the parliament (Freeman, 1893).
History
The Greece history can be best understood through its territory and Greek’s people history in addition to the regions these people inhabited and ruled over the years. It is clear that the Greek's habitation and the government changed significantly for ages. Research has shown that Neolithic Revolution which was significantly influential arrived in Europe between 7000–6500 BC when the East’s agriculturalists found their way into Greek peninsula from Anatolia. History has shown that the first ever groups of individual speaking Greek arrived in Greece around the Neolithic era. The transition from the Greek Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age occurred systematically at the time the Greece's agricultural started importing bronze and copper.
At the 3rd millennium BC, Greece inhabitants experienced another cultural transformation that was as a result of the drastic climate changes and developments. Based on existing studies, Minoan civilization was the first and earliest form of enlightenment to be felt in Greece and lasted from c. 3000 BC to c. 1400 BC (Legg & Roberts, 1997). Minoan Crete significantly transformed the Helladic culture in mainland Greece in the 1600 BC. Mycenaean civilization was shown to have collapsed between 1100–1050 BC. The majority of the historians believe that the ancient Greece was the primary culture throughout the Western Civilization. It is worth noting that the culture of the Greeks powerfully influenced the entire Roman Empire which later spread to other regions of Europe. It is clear that the ancient Greek civilization had an enormous impact on the modern world’s politics, education system, language and even art as experience in the Renaissance period in Western Europe (Legg & Roberts, 1997).
Later in the 19th century, there was massive modernization in Greece, significantly changing their entire social structures. It resulted in a rapid increase in population that exerted increasing pressure on small farming hence forcing people to venture into other sectors to meet their needs that established them as the epicenter of the merchant marine. The entire Greece city considerably modernized, people ventured into trading and businesses and adopted most of the western European culture architecture that resulted to the modern Greece.
References
Cartledge, P. (2002). The economy (economies) of ancient Greece. The ancient economy , 11-32.
Finley, M. I., Shaw, B. D., & Saller, R. P. (1982). Economy and society in ancient Greece.
Freeman, E. A. (1893). History of federal government in Greece and Italy . Macmillan and Company.
Kouretas, G. P., & Vlamis, P. (2010). The Greek crisis: causes and implications. Panoeconomicus , 57 (4), 391-404.
Legg, K. R., & Roberts, J. M. (1997). Modern Greece: a civilization on the periphery . Westview Press.
