New Democracy (Greece)

New Democracy is a Greek political party established by Konstantinos Karamanlis in 1974. Karamanlis helped Greece transition from monarchies and dictatorships to a parliamentary republic and later founded the New Democracy party to support this system. To do so, New Democracy combined an overall conservative approach with many liberal policies, particularly in the economy. After a short period of popularity, New Democracy began decades of mixed electoral results. In 2019, following years of turmoil in Greece, New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis became prime minister.

Background

Historians generally credit Greece with the invention of democratic government. In the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, the upper echelon of citizens had the ability to cast votes to select their own leaders. This political experiment is widely considered one of the earliest known examples of democracy, itself a Greek word meaning “rule by the people.” However, the initial appearance of democracy in Greece was short-lived. For long periods, Greece was governed by empires, monarchies, and authoritarian regimes.

Greece entered the modern period as a part of the Ottoman Empire. It won independence in a war lasting from 1821 to 1829. Independence did not bring democracy, however, and Greece entered a period of monarchy. After a series of wars in the early twentieth century, a call for change arose in Greece, and in 1924 voters chose to remove the monarchy and establish a republic. This republican experiment proved short-lived, however. Monarchy was restored in 1935, and the country soon was under the control of a military dictator.

Struggles only mounted for Greeks during World War II (1939–1945), during which time Greece was invaded and occupied by Germany. The end of the war returned Greek independence but led to a flood of political uncertainty and violence. In 1952, Greece established a monarchy tempered by a democratic parliament, but this succumbed to a military coup and dictatorship in 1967. Further coups, along with attempts to establish democratic governments, marked the coming years.

Starting in 1974, Greece emerged from a series of coups and crises to declare the establishment of a republic with a president and parliament. A formerly exiled Greek political leader named Konstantinos Karamanlis was recalled to his home country and installed as prime minister. He became one of the most important figures in modern Greek history, ultimately serving two terms as president and establishing the New Democracy party.

Overview

When Konstantinos Karamanlis returned to his homeland, he brought with him new ideas about how Greece could end its series of monarchies and dictatorships and adopt a stable democratic government. His visions of government were based largely on previous Greek political parties, such as the People’s Party and National Radical Union. In 1974, he solidified his ideas in the creation of a new political party, known as Nea Dimokratia, or New Democracy.

Although generally conservative in nature, the New Democracy party—as signified by its name—shunned the traditionally right-wing push to return to monarchy. In fact, the party pursued a number of traditionally liberal aims. Among these were lowering taxes and increasing private, rather than public, ownership of the economy and industry. In addition, New Democracy envisioned a more unified Europe and pushed for international cooperation. Karamanlis and his supporters pushed for inclusion in the European Economic Community, the organization that began the formation of the European Union. These measures proved to be a refreshing change to Greek voters, who widely supported Karamanlis and the party he had established.

Karamanlis remained the face of the party for many years. His fame as the leader who helped end totalitarian government and usher Greece into a new era of democracy propelled New Democracy to significant levels of support and influence. Throughout the 1970s, the party held dominant majorities in parliament. Toward the end of the decade, however, the party began to meet some opposition from socialist parties and others seeking to take control of Greece’s future. Some criticized New Democracy for having vague and inconsistent platforms.

In 1980, Karamanlis was elected to the presidency of Greece. Although he remained inextricably linked with his party, he passed day-to-day leadership of New Democracy to Georgios Rallis. Rallis oversaw New Democracy during a period of struggle in the 1980s, when the party lost much of its public favor. Voters were largely turned off by the unclear political position of the party, which combined conservatism and liberalism, and turned instead to the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

Fortunes changed again at the end of the decade, however. New Democracy had a triumphant return to parliamentary power in 1989 and made a surprise alliance with communist organizations. The following year, party head Konstantinos Mitsotakis was elected to become prime minister. Despite installing party leadership in Karamanlis’s nephew, Kostas Karamanlis, New Democracy faced a long string of defeats. The party saw a brief reemergence in 2004, however, with an electoral victory and the election of Kostas Karamanlis to the prime ministership.

The party held majority control in Greece until a significant electoral loss in 2009. That year, Greece was slowly recovering from deadly wildfires and faced a devastating economic crisis that led to a deep recession and emergency financial austerity laws. New Democracy participated in coalition governments from 2011 to 2014 and helped lead the country during this period.

After continued economic and international turmoil, Greece held a snap election in July 2019, in which New Democracy returned to prominence. New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the son of former Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, became the next prime minister. New Democracy candidates also fared well in local elections, winning control of twelve out of thirteen of the country’s major regions, including its largest, Athens and Thessaloniki. Mitsotakis pledged that he and his party would restore government transparency and meritocracy to the country’s government and make Greece a more prominent force in Europe. Mitsotakis and the New Democracy members led Greece to a period of relative financial prosperity, repaying 2.7 billion euros ($2.87 billion) of loans from European countries ahead of schedule. In the May 2023 elections, the New Democracy Party secured a plurality and later won a majority in the June 2023 repeat election. Greece regained investment-grade credit ratings that year, signaling improved economic stability. The country planned to make an additional early loan repayment of 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in 2025 and continued early repayments of bailout loans as part of its economic recovery strategy.

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