New Policies, Old Politics: American Concepts of Reform in Marshall Plan Greece

Commencing postwar reconstruction and achieving military victory over the communist Democratic Army of Greece (Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας—DSE), while, at the same time, maintaining democracy were the two key goals of the Marshall Plan in Greece until 1949. The schedule of political and economic reform became extremely tight in 1950-1951 when the Korean War transformed the nature of the Plan. American aid precipitated the decline of traditional Greek political parties in favor of new center-right and center-left forces that espoused the emerging Western European consensus model of the welfare state, one that opposed both communism and authoritarianism. American intervention was instrumental in curbing authoritarian tendencies, depoliticizing the Greek monarchy, and immunizing the army against political interference. The Marshall Planners also showed Greeks how to alter the environment in which economic policy was made: to restore financial stability, dismantle inefficient bureaucracies, open up to foreign trade, mobilize labor movements to boost productivity, support supranational processes, and, most importantly, prepare to live with less and less American assistance.