Responsible Citizens against an Irresponsible State: The Case of Greece amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Published: Jun 30, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/hapscpbs.27646
Sofia Alexopoulou
Örebro University
Antonia Pavli
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Abstract

How is it possible for citizens to act responsibly if they live in an irresponsible state? This is the key question that this paper revolves around in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. Individual responsibility is the dominant ‘mantra’ of post-modernity and is widely spread by the neoliberal dogma. The individual has to take care of him/herself in any possible way to avoid risks without depending so much on the benevolent state, which, in the developed world, takes the form of a welfare state. Thus, a new type of citizen appears, the “responsible citizen”. The oxymoron, however, in the Greek case is that the state and particularly the political elites maintain bad practices of the past without being able to overcome the country’s path-dependency structures by acting responsibly. The concept of “empathy” is undoubtedly the missing link in this intriguing puzzle of good governance. Will the Greek political elites be able to recognize and embrace empathy in practice?

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Author Biographies
Sofia Alexopoulou, Örebro University
Sofia Alexopoulou is Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at Örebro University
Antonia Pavli, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Antonia Pavli is Affiliated Researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
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