A Greek citizen’s basic needs are no longer met, and the growing distrust in democracy reflects that

To claim that the last decade has been a challenge for western democracies would be a wildly simplistic understatement. Financial turmoil, migrant crises, the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine have all played their part in diminishing trust in democratic institutions across most European nations. Naturally, this decline can be attributed to the underwhelming response most citizens feel their respective government was guilty of, and it is not simply correlated to the aforementioned events taking place. Above all else, the average citizen frequently finds their self at odds with the government in power, despite said government being democratically elected. Though a broad net can certainly be cast, I feel more apt talking about these issues in reference to Greek society, as a citizen of Greece myself.

To understand the root cause of this growing feeling of disenfranchisement, one must simply consider the circumstances of modern life in Greece. Living paycheck to paycheck, many citizens feel their basic needs are no longer met, and eagerly disengage from democratic participation. And nowhere does this fact become clearer than when examining voter abstention during the parliamentary elections. Specifically, in the 2007 parliamentary elections, 2 years before the first cracks of the Greek financial crisis started to appear, voter abstention was recorded at 2563891, or 25.85% of registered citizens. The number of abstaining voters rose sharply in the coming years, increasing to 34.88% and 37.51 in the two rounds of the 2012 parliamentary elections respectively, and continued to fluctuate between the mid 30s and low 40s, before reaching the highest level of abstention in the second round of the parliamentary votes of the 2023 parliamentary elections with a staggering 46.26% abstention rate. Simultaneously, other factors such as the soaring inflation rates (which hit a record high of 12% during the summer of 2022) as well as the current real estate bubble paint a clear picture. Living in Greece has become an increasingly difficult task for the average Greek citizen.

Anachronistic as many ancient views on governance may seem, it would not be unwise to draw inspiration from them. And while 23 centuries separate us from the works of Aristotle, his observations on the importance of material security being a prerequisite for the participation in public affairs rings most true. Although Aristotle may not have had access to Maslow’s pyramid of the hierarchy of needs, in Politics he successfully gauged that a certain level of material well-being and security must be met before an individual is able to realize their potential as a citizen and participate in politics, arguing that for political participation to be feasible a citizen must be free from the necessity of labor for mere survival. Moreover Aristotle believed that the primary role of the state is to secure the well-being and happiness of its citizens, which in turns enables a relationship of mutual benefit for both citizen and state, the so called “eudaimonia”.

It would not be unfair to state that for most Greeks daily life has strayed rather far from the concept of eudaimonia. Housing prices continue to increase at an alarming pace, almost doubling in price since 2017, meanwhile wages have remained stagnant, and many Greeks find themselves on the brink of poverty, as basic necessities such as rent, bills and groceries take up the majority of a Greek citizens net income, if not more. Hence, it is only logical that so many Greek citizens have lost faith in democratic institutions and politics at large, by choosing to abstain from their most basic of rights, the right to vote.

Despite Greece’s long historic ties to democracy, no appeal to history or romanticizing of the past can quell the disappointment brewing within Greek society. One cannot simply ignore the reality of the modern cost of living in favor of some political ideal, and neither can one devote their self to public life when basic needs remain such an overwhelming financial priority.

The answer is as clear to see as it is hard to implement. In order to regain trust and secure a genuine and sustainable participation in democratic society the state has to actualize the prosperity that would justify its existence in the minds of the citizens. As things stand, at least from the Greek perspective, this struggle is not only one sided but also uphill. The Greek state is faced with undoing years of accumulated distrust, characterized by various crises, deep rooted corruption as well as numerous political scandals. Moreover, the state, through no small fault of its own, has found itself in a vicious cycle of distrust and scrutiny, an opportunity that no small number of malign agents, both domestic and foreign, have tried to seize over the last decade. For faith in democratic institutions to be restored tangible results must be achieved, casting aside all doubts over the efficiency of democracy.

Instead of corrupt, the government has to become transparent. Instead of idle, the government has to become responsive. Instead of irresponsible, the government has to become accountable. And for the citizen to become engaged their political life has to evolve beyond casting a vote in the ballot box every couple of years. Democracy above all else is a form of responsibility. To relinquish one’s participation means surrendering one’s future.