The Cultural Roots of Corruption in Greece

Despite periods of growth, modern Greece is no stranger to severe and prolonged economic crises. Analyses of Greece's current economic crisis have stayed clear of the seminal importance of culture as a key variable responsible for widespread and persistent corruption that has deprived the country of a viable and sound economic foundation. This essay seeks to fill the void by concentrating of the cultural roots of corruption and the sources and factors that generate, nurture, and maintain high levels of corruption in the Greek setting. Borrowing from anthropological literature, the essay utilizes nine cultural dimensions of corruption: uncertainty avoidance, future orientation, institutional/societal collectivism, individual/in-group collectivism, human orientation, performance orientation, power distance, assertiveness, and gender egalitarianism. Copyright 2014 by Mediterranean Affairs, Inc.