The name is absent

64

government policy affecting the availability of such things as migrant labor to Greece and
other resources. Of course, Nikos continued, Greece itself could be seen as still
struggling with neoliberalism itself: the principles of which the state seemed to embrace
wholeheartedly (not to mention the association with progress that neoliberalism evokes);
but the deeper implications this paradigm carries in terms of government structure, policy,
and function⁶⁰, the Greek government fears and resists. According to Nikos, this leaves
the country in a peculiar position within Europe, where the citizenry generally thinks the
country is becoming neoliberal (economically, and in terms of global political play⁶') and
behaves accordingly, and yet the state has no intention to pursue a neoliberal agenda.
The ideological divide between the people and their government achieved by this
political misdirection, keeps the people out of step with official actions and intentions
therefore insulating the state from popular, organized, critical interference allowing them
to pursue their plans, nationally and internationally.

Of course this came across as specious, or at least oversimplified, and I suspected
that Nikos realized this. Organized protests occur regularly across Greece and it seemed
to me that nobody was under the impression that the country was actually pursuing a
strict neoliberal agenda; in fact, ongoing public discussions of overt political Clientelism
and multilevel corruption within the government seemed to make the possibility of this
popular impression impossible. Nikos’s further assertions regarding the state’s
underlying secret aspirations relative to nearby post-socialist states were also problematic.
However, I dared not challenge him directly; instead I asked if he thought Greece had a
chance at becoming an international power and Nikos answered “perhaps not in a

⁶⁰ Greece’s fervent maintenance of a centralized government is a prime example of its resistance to
neoliberalism.

⁶¹ That is, in terms of support for particular neoliberal EU or even UN policy.

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