This event introduces the new book by Calliope Spanou, titled 'Crisis, Reform and the Way Forward in Greece'.

In 2009-10 Greece emerged as the weakest link of the European sovereign debt crisis. Macroeconomic adjustment programmes and structural reform requirements were termed a “Sisyphean task”. The completion of the adjustment programmes in mid-2018 and the exit from the subsequent “Enhanced surveillance” in June 2022 raise the question of Greece’s reform capacity, reform achievements and more generally of the dynamics of stability and change, of external pressure and domestic agency. These factors will be discussed based on a recently published collective volume under the title “Crisis, reform and the way forward in Greece”.

You can order this book from https://www.routledge.com with a 30% discount using the code CRWG30 (valid from 1 to 31 October)

Meet our speakers and chair 

Calliope Spanou is Professor of Administrative Science and Public Administration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. From 2011–2015 she was the Greek Ombudsman and she served as Deputy Ombudsman from 2003–2011. She has extensive experience in administrative reform in Greece and in other countries. She holds a PhD (Doctorat d’Etat) in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Picardie, France. She has been a guest researcher or professor at various academic institutions in Europe, including the Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, France, and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. Her latest publications include (ed.). Crisis, Reform and the Way Forward in Greece. Routledge 2022 and Ποιες Μεταρρυθμίσεις; Κυβερνώντας υπό εξωτερική πίεση (Which Reforms? Governing under External Pressure). Πατάκης 2021.

Dr Jens Bastian is a Fellow at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, Germany. His main areas of expertise concern China’s expanding investment and bank lending footprint in Southeast Europe and Greek-German bilateral economic relations. From September 2011 to September 2013 Dr. Jens Bastian was appointed by the European Commission as a member of the Task Force for Greece in Athens, Greece. His previous professional experience includes working as Lead Economist / Institution Building for the European Agency for Reconstruction, Thessaloniki, Greece, at Alpha Bank in Athens, Greece, as well as various academic positions held at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, UK, Nuffield College, Oxford and the London School of Economics, London, U.K. In January 2020, Jens Bastian was appointed Senior Policy Advisor at ELIAMEP (Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy) in Athens, Greece.

Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics in the European Institute at LSE, where he is also Director of the Hellenic Observatory.

The twitter hashtag for this event is #LSEGreece

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE)  is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.