european affairs
The Fullness of Time? “How come we choose from just two people for President, and fifty for Miss America?” Alfred E. Neuman
By Harris Vourkas
30
EUROPEANBUSINESSREVIEW
T
he recent Greek crisis contains its own synthesis of parameters: its internal and external dramas, its national and European aspects, its periods of stillness and of hastening speed, its layers of personal and collective involvement, its specific links to the local, the national, the European face of our society... In a dramatic manner, this crisis emphasizes the absence of a clear vision in order to inspire trust to people in agony, of a well-defined policy track in order to provide sense to active forces in the economy and to compose the heated spirits in the society, of a leadership advantage in order to create the difference, in Greece and in Europe alike... Therefore, this multitude of facets requires a radical shift in our approach: we must proceed to a deeper and more systematic analysis, we have to move further our focus, from the phenomena (the objects of experience) to the noumena (the things in themselves). We may then conclude that the so-called «Greek crisis» presents a combination of many unanswered questions with some ill-prepared answers with which we became simply familiar, because swimming against the current may be athletic, yet tiring... At first, let’s agree on the defining characteristics of the crisis. Seeger, Sellnow and Ulmer1 say that crises have four defining characteristics that are «specific, unexpected, and non-routine events or series of events that [create] high levels of uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organization’s high priority goals».
Venette2 argues that «crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained». If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure. However, for ancient Greeks the word is more anthropocentric and addresses the result of a balanced decision, the judgement, the preference/choice after careful consideration of options possible: in short, it is the human spirit which remains in command of all future actions of the human... At present, let’s unravel some bits of those issues hanging over our heads like the levitating placenta above this visionary «parabirth» (sic) painted by Salvador Dali in 1943...
A recent social paradox
We live today in a simple yet peculiar paradox: for the first time after WWII, the so-called «civil society» (or «citizens», for that matter) are in advance on their political, economical and social elites3. By the past, those latter used to provide a vision to the former, based on a knowledge gap, on their capacity to travel and propose best practices from abroad, or on their call for the development of a modern State, warrant of a stable welfare. This vision was their distinctive advantage, the instrument of their power, their reason of being... Today, this is no longer the case. And why is that? To start with one reason, more people are better educated nowadays than at the past or have access to seminars,