The development of social security in Greece, 1920-1990 : postponed decisions

• Main Author: Venieris, Dimitrios N.
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1995
• Subjects: 368.4
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.645435

This thesis attempts to analyze the major factors which led to landmarks in the evolution of social security in Greece during the turbulent period between 1920 and 1990. The development of hundreds of different social insurance schemes and the lack of reliable information makes a full history almost impossible. The landmarks are chosen both for their impact on population coverage as well as for the principles they established. The first ever state social insurance was introduced in 1922 followed by the Social Insurance Organization (IKA) in 1934 - the compulsory scheme for white and blue collar workers in the urban areas; in the post war period there were desperate efforts to establish social assistance to help the casualties of the Second World War and the successive civil war. An attempt to reorganize IKA failed in 1951. Agricultural social insurance was established in 1961. Finally the repressive social insurance reform of 1990 attempted to correct the social policies of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Seventy years after the early state social insurance policies, the nature of the Greek social security system is unique - a mosaic of almost four hundred social insurance funds - reproducing huge inequalities, inconsistencies and inefficiencies. Moreover, the "system" reached a financial deadlock in the late 1980s, threatening the country itself with bankruptcy. The faulty development of the social security system reflects the irresponsibility, indecisiveness and opportunism of Greek politics, not met in other European countries. What is shown is that the social security model in Greece is embarrassingly characterized as an accumulation of political bribes in favour of particular socio-professional groups. Rational decisions have never been taken. In fact, social policy is meant and used as a form of social politics.