Export democracy to the Greek diaspora – an oxymoron!

The cosmopolitan city of Melbourne in Australia, which also happens to be the capital of the Greek diaspora, is currently hosting the recreation of the Parthenon on the Acropolis as "The Temple of Boom." Australia is a beacon of democracy, and has embedded similar values and an institutional framework to those of the ancient Athenian democracy, very much like other full democracies. Indeed, Australia is ranked ninth in the EIU Global Democracy Index and Greek Australians have made a pivotal contribution (as they indeed have in other parts of the world) towards maintaining and improving civil liberties and political rights.

Yet, modern Greece, despite being the birthplace of democracy, has been consistently ranking as a flawed democracy and therein an oxymoron of our times in the pursuit of providing voting rights to Greek-born citizens abroad.

Recent escalated efforts...