Environmental Crisis in Greece and Recent Challenges to Centralized State Authority

Abstract: Environmental problems have become acute in Greece. They have led to criti-cism of the arbitrary behavior and administrative incapacity of national gov-ernments, which have been vulnerable because their power is extraordinarily centralized. Consequently, environmental problems have stimulated diverse protests against governments by voluntary associations, often working in alliance with various bodies that have become more independent and critical of the government: elected local governments, the broadcast media, professional experts, and the judiciary. The same bodies--sometimes forming new types of partnership--have also tried to remedy government neglect by various initiatives for environmental protection. All these activities have made the central government readier to anticipate public objections and seek external assistance. These developments have tended to make the political system more pluralistic and decentralized, and have strengthened civil society as conventionally defined.