Democracy

It's less than three months to go from the next edition of the Athens Democracy Forum, taking place in the Greek capital from September 27-29, 2023.

Politicians and policymakers, academics and activists, journalists and youth will be challenged to advance and discuss concrete solutions to address the most pressing issues of our time.

Since 1992, Francis Fukuyama has often been called upon to explain how his prediction of the definitive dominance of the liberal democracy model after the fall of communism has been tested by events - by the internal convulsions in Western democracies and by the apparent success of authoritarian regimes such as China. But his theory has never lost its appeal.

With a motley concoction of small parties on the far-right of ruling conservatives New Democracy, the government is seeking to assess the reasons that led some 700,000 people to vote the way they did in the recent elections and the political response to lure them back to the center ground. 

The result of the June 25 election with the election of three far-right parties to Parliament, even if it was a product of the momentary election fatigue, showed that bans are not enough to deal with existing social discontent.

Europeans still hope that Ukraine can win the current shocking war. Many also continue to hope that democracy will be a major reason why the Ukrainians will be victorious. I believe that ancient history can help us to decide whether such hopes are reasonable or unrealistic.

The composition of the new Parliament with a total of eight parties "creates many challenges for its new president", President Katerina Sakellaropoulou told the House Speaker at a meeting on Monday morning.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for a stable government for the next four years from the polling station in Kifissia, where he voted.

"Citizens and democracy are the focus today, it is a day of joy and responsibility. We are voting for the second time in just a few weeks so the country can have a stable and efficient government with a four-year horizon," he said.

Is it possible that by observing Greek politics from far away I can form a better point of view or is it the case that because of the distance I don't have a good picture? In any case, here is how I see Greek politics now.

With the formerly ascendant, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party broken, its leadership in prison, and the anti-Western left defanged, Greece's political fringes are looking more gauche than sinister.

Greece marks 50 years since the fall of the 1967-74 dictatorship and the restoration of democracy - a process known as the "Metapolitefsi" - next year. We will take stock of what has been accomplished and where we failed. It should also signal the close of a cycle.