Greece’s economic development and early European integration: business strategies and state policies, 1945-1962

Vasilopoulos, Ioannis (2019) Greece’s economic development and early European integration: business strategies and state policies, 1945-1962. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis explores, through the lens of state-business relations, Greece’s participation in the process of European integration from 1945 until 1962. During this period, Greece’s economy was progressively integrated with the economies of Western Europe and in 1962 the Greek state was the first to associate with the newly created European Economic Community (EEC). Most authors and academics have concluded that Greece’s road to the EEC was driven solely from above, as part of the government’s foreign policy emphasizing geopolitical motives.
This study, situates the interrelated problems of (un)employment and economic (under)development at the centre of the analysis, arguing, instead, that Greece’s road toward Europe was a complex politico-economic process considerably influenced by business interests. It shows how and why business and state agencies had collectively identified the country’s viability with the development of economic and commercial relationships initially with the US and, after 1950, with West Germany, aiming to resolve its viability problem and to remain within the western capitalist bloc. For these reasons, Greece participated in the process of European integration from the very beginning, adopting in turn its own European strategy. This strategy included not only the aims of the Greek side during the relevant negotiations but, as will be argued, the industrial and commercial policies applied were also a substantive part of this strategy. Equally, it is claimed that big business and state agencies cooperated to formulate and implement these two policies.
In this way, this research contributes not only to the Greek historiography on economic development and to the debate in respect of Greece’s road to Europe. It also adds to the historiographical strand on European integration which, through a business history perspective, has incorporated business interests in the analysis.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: European integration, Greek business, economic development, business-government relations, organised business.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DF Greece; H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions; H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Economic and Social History
• Supervisor's Name: Tsakatika, Dr. Myrto and Rollings, Professor Neil
• Date of Award: 2019
• Depositing User: Mr Ioannis Vasilopoulos
• Unique ID: glathesis:2019-76717
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 29 Nov 2019 09:57
• Last Modified: 16 Aug 2022 12:18
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.76717
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/76717