The 50 years that have passed since the fall of the military dictatorship in Greece were years lived in peace and relative prosperity, experiencing the best performing Democracy (compared to our past ones) of our history. At the same time, it is clear that we failed economically (compared to other countries), something that resulted in another bankruptcy.

In this 50-year period, there were 20 electoral contests without any dispute, and the democratic institutions endured even in the toughest moments of the economic crisis, when Greece suffered a loss of 25% of its GDP.

Democracy endured. It is interesting to analyze its qualitative characteristics because, coming out of the dictatorship, democracy was often associated with a Greek mentality of “I-do-whatever-I-want,” being beyond laws and rules.

The evolution of the political system is obviously related to the history, culture, and personalities of this period.

PASOK was the largest organized popular party.

New Democracy was the party with the deepest roots, and the Left, although defeated in the Civil War and persecuted by the post-war state, influenced the culture and politics of both parties disproportionately relative to its electoral power.

In elections, winning over centrist voters was the decisive factor that led to victories, while the Left imposed itself ideologically on society.

The 21st century changed this course of events. Social mobility has ceased, the young experienced successive crises growing up without a positive outlook, the parties lost their shine, and society became more conservative. The challenges after the first 50 years of peace and democracy are a new great national vision for the country, concerning income redistribution, equality, collective optimism, and requiring very different approaches.

Climate change, artificial intelligence, and the need to converge with the EU average are the demands of the new era, which can no longer be called “metapolitefsi”, the term that has been coined to describe the post-junta period.