5 Government and Politics
D
em oc rac y, a term of Greek ori gin de s c ri bing the spec i f i c po l i tical sys tem of rule by citi zen s , was som ething con temporary Greece acquired rel a tively late . It is rather paradoxical that the cradle of dem oc racy was of ten the site of u n democ ra tic regimes. The modern po l i tical history of Greece is ra t h er com p l ex. Af ter a len g t hy time of political turmoil, foll owed by periods of relative calm, the co u n try is today a rep u blic with a progre s s ive democracy. Lon gstanding geopolitical issu e s , parti c u l a rly with Greece’s nei gh bors , seem to have subsided . In the past, Greece lived u n der the om n i pre s ent threat of ex ternal, or even intern a l , military con f l i ct. Tod ay, these con cerns are fading aw ay, and Greece can con cen tra te its po l i tical atten ti on more on econ omic issues and o t h er ways of improving the life of its citi zens. This is not to say that h a rdships of previous times are for go t ten. In this part of the worl d , m em ories fade slowly wh en it comes to po l i tics.
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