The politics of privatisation: redrawing the public-private boundary

Abstract:

Privatisation in Greece represented a reversal of the entire post-war and post-authoritarian interventionist policy paradigm. The privatisation decision resulted from pressures associated with the EC/EU and globalisation in general. The Simitis government reactivated a privatisation programme comparable to that of ND in the early 1990s, but distinctly pragmatic in its reasoning, gradualist in its pace, and non-conflictual though unilateralist in its policy implementation. A central feature of the 'Simitis privatisations' was the flotation of successive minority stakes in public enterprises leading to retention of public control even though the government kept only a minority stake in the privatised enterprises. Privatisation was most far-reaching in the banking sector, with important broader implications for the entire economy. Despite the remarkably more favourable overall conditions under which the Simitis government implemented privatisation as compared to the ND government in the early 1990s, privatisation policies continued to provide ad hoc opportunities for considerable socio-political opposition.