HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF EUROPE Jon Woronoff, Series ...

xlviii • INTRODUCTION
large sections of Greek society long for the protection of an all-embracing
state. At the same time, while many Greeks are accustomed to
expecting everything from the government, they do their best to avoid
contributing to the state. The end result is an omnipresent but weak and
dysfunctional public administration.
Resolving these paradoxes is both a gradual and historical process,
and a political choice. It takes time to mend past traumas. Healing is
further complicated because some political forces, especially on the
left, have invested in preserving the memory of these traumas as a way
of surviving politically. However, no matter how much past-oriented
opinion makers try, theirs is a lost cause. Under the surface, Greece has
been modernizing rapidly. A new generation of Greeks is coming of age
that is less ideological and more results oriented. These Greeks belong
to a generation with no memory of poverty and violent conflict. Their
universe and outlook is distinctly European.
Thus, Greece has come a long way. A client state, first of Britain
and then of the United States, for much of its modern existence, it has
secured an equal place at the top tables of NATO and the EU. It has
grown quickly but modernized haphazardly. When compared to its
region, it is, undoubtedly, a great historical success and a model for its
neighbors. This ancient land, blessed with a stunning natural beauty and
an inspiring cultural heritage but burdened with history and conflict,
has reached a state of normalcy that feels novel, almost unnatural. In
the past, the Greek identity was forged through traumas. How it will
survive its present affluence and comfort remains to be seen and studied
by the historians of the future.
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