The Janus faces of (anti-)corruption rhetoric in Greece

Abstract

The article outlines the use of corruption rhetoric in Greek politics based on official reports and press publications in selected years and examines the functions it fulfils. In the beginning of the article, an overview of international research and its contextual background about corruption is provided. The absence of historical accounts in the (anti-) corruption literature is noted and an overview of factors that have been correlated by researchers with corruption is given, such as degree of democracy, (de)centralization of the political system, media scandalization, etc. The article briefly presents the approach of Greek analysts to the topic. Issues concerning old and new forms of clientelism, which held the most interest for Greek academics, are analysed. Also, the discourse analysis carried out and its findings is portrayed. The analysis reveals that politicians’ corruption rhetoric operates primarily as a strategy that is capable of undermining the morale of the main political opponent(s) and occasionally as a method of ensuring electoral supremacy. The rather unhelpful attempts of the Greek governments to improve the position of the country in the anticorruption universe by introducing successive legislation, new bodies and institutions to control corruption, while disregarding the fact that the main efforts should be focused on Greece’s market image are illustrated. A positive change in the country’s image in the market came incidentally during the last few years of the Greek economic crisis thanks to neoliberal economic policies under the tutelage of foreign lenders.