Andreas Papandreou Stays Out of Politics

Another Greek WI, this one might become a short TL if I can butterfly enough interesting stuff out of it.

When Andreas Papandreou originally went back to Greece, it was as a sabbatical from his teaching post at University of Minnesota. He'd been called to establish an economic think-tank in Athens and he served in this capacity for five years before renouncing his American citizenship to run in the Greek parliament in 1964. Of course, IOTL he ends up becoming a vary polarizing and very popular figure, both before and after the dictatorship. However, in his own memoir he concedes that Greek politics didn't initially draw him in, and that his father was the catalyst to his entry into the political arena.

So, what if Andreas Papandreou sticks to his initial assessment of Greek politics as tribal, backward and undignified, and turns down his father's offer of being his economic advisor, which IOTL led to his entry into politics? Given what Andreas got mixed up in or slandered with before the dictatorship (repeated accusations of favoritism from all sides, allegations of quasi-communist conspiring in the Aspida Affair, etc) and the influences he had after (founding PASOK, liberalizing a lot of residual Greek policies from the 50s) I feel like removing him could send butterflies scattering in any direction.
 
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rohala

Banned
It is too specialised for anyone to know enough (or care enough?) to give suggestions. From my side, all I can say is that Andreas Papandreou was part of a movement within Greek politics and did not act alone. He certainly had a flamboyant personality and was a demagogue, but his very high rates in elections (70%? I think) came from a general realisation within the Greek populace of the economic situation in Greece and the stagnation of salaries and labour rights.
 
Well, that could be a minor butterfly that could cause a massive chain reaction that could help prevent the 1967-1974 military junta. :cool:

To be more realistic, though, it still would not solve the huge polarization in Greek politics. Ultimately, the ERE (that is, the National Radical Union) is going to have to soften up and be less polarizing, as would the Centre Union (as well as, though quasi-legal, EDA - probably, as a side POD, have it cut ties with the KKE earlier than OTL), which is a Herculean task which I would like to see how you get that to work. However, there are 2~3 things which are essentially non-negiotiable for any Modern Greece TL, particularly in this time period:

1. Legalise Dimotiki, either alongside Katharevousa (an analogue here being Norwegian Bokmal and Norwegian Nynorsk, though the social roles for this comparison are largely reversed) or, as in OTL, to replace Katharevousa. That should help solve the Greek language question and cut down on the polarisation greatly.

2. Diversify the Greek economy whilst making it competitive at the same time. As is the case now, you can't build an entire economy on agriculture, shipping, and tourism - you need something more than that, and nowhere is that more true than in Greece. As a corollary here, inflation desperately needs to be brought under control (here, a revaluation of the drachma would probably help).

3. As much as possible, try to get rid of - or at least cut back greatly on - the corruption. ;)

That much is a give-in.
 
Greece does not go broke in 2011. The small industial base that Greece had in the 1980s expands since the PASOK union gangsters will not be around cause those industires to leave the country and be nationalized.
 
Well, that could be a minor butterfly that could cause a massive chain reaction that could help prevent the 1967-1974 military junta. :cool:

To be more realistic, though, it still would not solve the huge polarization in Greek politics. Ultimately, the ERE (that is, the National Radical Union) is going to have to soften up and be less polarizing, as would the Centre Union (as well as, though quasi-legal, EDA - probably, as a side POD, have it cut ties with the KKE earlier than OTL), which is a Herculean task which I would like to see how you get that to work. However, there are 2~3 things which are essentially non-negiotiable for any Modern Greece TL, particularly in this time period:

1. Legalise Dimotiki, either alongside Katharevousa (an analogue here being Norwegian Bokmal and Norwegian Nynorsk, though the social roles for this comparison are largely reversed) or, as in OTL, to replace Katharevousa. That should help solve the Greek language question and cut down on the polarisation greatly.

2. Diversify the Greek economy whilst making it competitive at the same time. As is the case now, you can't build an entire economy on agriculture, shipping, and tourism - you need something more than that, and nowhere is that more true than in Greece. As a corollary here, inflation desperately needs to be brought under control (here, a revaluation of the drachma would probably help).

3. As much as possible, try to get rid of - or at least cut back greatly on - the corruption. ;)

That much is a give-in.
ERE and KE (Center Union) depolarizing themselves is a stretch. I feel like the way to go about doing that would require getting rid of their demagogues; Kanellopoulos and Karamanlis for ERE and George Papandreou for KE. The problem is these parties were more or less built around their key personalities moreso than any entrenched ideology, so if you butterfly the personalities away it becomes difficult to envision the party.

1. I'm not really familiar with the Greek language dispute but I'd imagine it can be done.

2. Andreas might propose a revaluation to curb inflation, and a stricter enforcement of taxes (tax-dodging was a national pastime even back then). The only problem I can foresee here is that Greece really doesn't have the economic base to be a manufacturing country and Andreas with his dislike of "The Establishment" is going to be loathe to bring in foreign investments that will have the effect of strengthening their position. I'm assuming of course that he keeps his position as Chief Economic Advisor to the Government, a nonpartisan position that plays to his expertise.

3. This seems like something a populist KE Prime Minister would pursue. Particularly one from the countryside who knows firsthand what the bureaucracy and corruption looks like and what it does to the people.
 
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