Greek Constitution of 1952

The Greek Constitution of 1952 established a parliamentary monarchy with the king as head of state and the army, based on the principle of the separation of powers. ^[1] It was based on the Constitution of 1911, but it was effectively a new constitution since it was in violation of the revision clause of the Constitution of 1911. ^[1]

The Constitution had several novel provisions,

• Foreign investments in Greece became possible by Article 107.
• The right to vote irrespective of gender, and once codified into law, women voted for the first time in elections of 1956.

History

The Constitution of 1952 brought stability in the 1950s since the political institutions of Greece had been significantly weakened by the Metaxas' dictatorship (1936-1941), followed by the devastation of Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1945) and by the Greek civil war (1946-1949). However, the king maintained considerable powers, such as dissolving the government and parliament and calling new elections. Moreover, article 31 ^[2] stated that the king hires and fires ministers (Greek : Ο βασιλεύς διορίζει και παύει τους υπουργούς αυτού). This created confusion as the prime minister was chosen by popular election, but the elected prime minister could not select the government's ministers without the king's approval. Two prime ministers in the 1950s had raised the question as to who governs the state, the king or the prime minister, ^[3] echoing the disagreements between Eleftherios Venizelos and Constantine I during the National Schism.

Kalamanlis governance

From 1955 to 1963, Greece was under the governorship of Constantine Karamanlis, who was widely acknowledged for bringing political and economic stability to Greece. ^[4] However, in the early 1960s, there was a growing awareness that the repressive measures taken due to civil war and its aftermath were no longer needed. This became clear with the death of a left-wing member of parliament Grigoris Lambrakis, where several high state officials were found to be involved either in the assassination or in its cover-up. ^[5] While no one, even from the severest of his left-wing critics, blamed Karamanlis for the incident, he resigned and self-exiled to France. ^[6]

Rice of Center Union and friction with the king

Georgios Papandreou and his political party, Center Union, having a moderate reformist platform, gained considerable traction and rose to power in elections of 1963 and later in elections of 1964. ^{[4] [7]} However, seeds of resentment towards Papandreou from the military grew as they were excluded from salary increases. ^[8] He also made a faint attempt to gain control of the military, which alarmed many officers without weakening them. ^{[9] [10]} The latter created friction with the King Constantine II, who wanted to be in command of the army and not the elected government. ^[11] In the meantime, the son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas Papandreou, who had joined Greek politics after 23 years in the United States as a prominent academic, ^[12] was campaigning by having fierce anti-monarchy and anti-American rhetoric, destabilizing the fragile political equilibrium. ^{[13] [14]} Andreas Papandreou's militant and uncompromising stance made him a target of conspiratorial accusations from ultra-rightists who feared that following any new elections, which the nearly 80-year-old Georgios Papandreou would likely win, his son would be the actual focus of power in the party. ^[15] These incidents caused a dispute between Georgios Papandreou and King Constantine II, leading to the resignation of the former. ^[16]

Iouliana

Main article: Iouliana

For the next twenty-two months, there was no elected government, and hundreds of demonstrations took place, with many being injured and killed in clashes with the police, a series of events that was named Iouliana. ^[17] The king, potentially acting within his constitutional rights but politically dubious approach, ^[16] tried to bring members of the Center Union party to his side and form a government. ^[18] He temporarily succeeded in getting 45 members, including Constantine Mitsotakis, to his side, who later were called 'apostates' by the side supporting Papandreous. ^{[17] [19]} To end the political deadlock, Georgios Papandreou attempted a more moderate approach with the king, but Andreas Papandreou publicly rejected his father's effort and attacked the whole establishment, attracting the support of 41 members of the Center Union in an effort designed to gain the party's leadership and preventing any compromise. ^[13] The prolonged political instability between the politicians and the king in finding a solution led a group of Colonels to intervene and rule Greece for seven years.

Junta

Andreas Papandeou in exile.

On 21 April 1967, a coup took place by right-wing officers, which established a dictatorship known as the Colonels' Regime. An attempted counter-coup by King Constantine II in December failed, forcing him to leave the country. Several prominent politicians were either imprisoned or exiled, including Andreas Papandreou and Mitsotakis. A new constitution was adopted by referendum in 1968. King Constantine was officially retained as head of state, though he would not be allowed to return until the first parliamentary election unless the government recalled him sooner. Many of the guarantees of civil rights were suspended. A modified constitution was proposed in 1973 to exclude the monarchy from the constitution.

Post-Junta

The Junta fall in 1974. With the return of civilian rule under Karamanlis, the new government, acting under extraordinary circumstances, issued a "Constituting Act" which voided the junta's Constitution of 1973. ^[20] Pending a referendum on a new constitution, the 1952 constitution was temporarily restored, "except for the articles dealing with the form of the State"; the last phrase referred to whether the monarchy would be restored. ^[20] In the meantime, the functions of the king were to be discharged by the incumbent President Phaedon Gizikis, who was appointed by the junta's regime as a nominal figurehead. ^[21] In November of 1974 Greek parliamentary election, Karamanlis received 56% of the vote and a mandate to set the foundations of the new state. In the December 1974 Greek republic referendum, 76% of voters chose a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ^[22] effectively voiding 150 years of tradition of monarchical rule. ^[23] This led to the foundation of the Third Hellenic Republic with the new Constitution of 1975.

References

1. Spyropoulos & Fortsakis 2017, pp. 52–53.
2. Greek Constitution 1952, p. 6.
3. Dervitsiotis 2019, p. 240.
4. Clogg 1975, p. 334.
5. Clogg 1975, pp. 334–335.
6. Clogg 1975, p. 335.
7. Koliopoulos & Veremis 2009, p. 137.
8. Lagos & Othon 2021, p. 47.
9. Tsarouhas 2005, p. 9.
10. Mouzelis 1978, p. 126.
11. Curtis 1995, p. 70.
12. Clive 1985, p. 491.
13. Close 2014, p. 109.
14. Featherstone & Papadimitriou 2015, p. 84.
15. Clogg 1996, p. 383.
16. Clogg 2013, pp. 158–159.
17. Close 2014, p. 108.
18. Close 2014, pp. 108–109.
19. Hatzivassiliou 2006, pp. 129–130.
20. Karamouzi 2015.
21. Liakos & Doumanis 2023, p. 306.
22. Clive 1985, p. 492.
23. Kaloudis 2000, p. 48.

Sources

Constitutions of Greece

• "Greek Constitution of 1952". Government Gazette (Greece) ΦΕΚ A 1/1952 (in Greek). National Printing Office.

Books

• Clogg, Richard (2013). A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9781107656444.
• Close, David H. (2014). Greece since 1945: Politics, Economy and Society. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781317880011.
• Curtis, Glenn E. (1995). Greece, A Country Study. Maryland: Library of Congress. ISBN   1490436235.
• Dervitsiotis, Alkis (2019). Η έννοια της Κυβέρνησης (in Greek). Athens: P.N. Sakkoulas SA. ISBN   9789604208005.
• Featherstone, Kevin; Papadimitriou, Dimitris (2015). Prime Ministers in Greece, The Paradox of Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0198717171.
• Hatzivassiliou, Evanthis [in Greek] (2006). Greece and the Cold War Front Line State, 1952-1967. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781134154883.
• Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos M. [in Greek] (2009). Modern Greece A History Since 1821. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN   9781444314830.
• Lagos, Katerina; Othon, Anastasakis, eds. (2021). The Greek Military Dictatorship Revisiting a Troubled Past, 1967-1974. New York & London: Berghahn Books. ISBN   9781800731752.
• Liakos, Antonis [in Greek]; Doumanis, Nicholas (2023). The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 20th and Early 21st Centuries: Global Perspectives. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN   978-1474410847.
• Mouzelis, Nicos P. (1978). Modern Greece: facets of underdevelopment. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN   978-0333226155.
• Spyropoulos, Philippos C.; Fortsakis, Theodore P. (2017). Constitutional Law in Greece. Netherlands: Wolters Kluwer. ISBN   9789041192448.

Journals

• Clive, Nigel (1985). "The 1985 Greek Election and its Background". Government and Opposition. 20 (4): 488–503. JSTOR   44483257.
• Clogg, Richard (1975). "Karamanlis's cautious success: the background". Government and Opposition. 10 (3): 332–255. JSTOR   44483305.
• —————— (1996). "Andreas Papandreou – A political profile" . Mediterranean Politics. 1 (3): 382–387. doi:10.1080/13629399608414596.
• Kaloudis, George (2000). "Transitional democratic politics in Greece". International Journal on World Peace. 17 (1): 35–39. JSTOR   20753241.
• Karamouzi, Eirini (2015). "A strategy for Greece: Democratization and European integration, 1974-1975" . Cahiers de la Méditerranée. 90 (90): 11–24. doi:10.4000/cdlm.7858.
• Tsarouhas, Dimitris (2005). "Explaining an activist military: Greece until 1975" (PDF). Southeast European Politics. 6 (1): 1–13.