ギリシャは政治的に安定していて、経済的にも健全な国だと思われていましたが、2008年後半から経済が急激に悪化し、最も深刻で難解な財政問題を抱える国へと変貌しました。財政赤字も失業率も増大し、暴力や破壊行為が行われ、大規模な反緊縮デモが全土に広がり、ギリシャは革命前の状態に近づいていきました。このとき世界がギリシャに注目したのは、欧州通貨同盟から離脱する可能性があり、他の弱小国が離脱に向かうことで同盟全体が崩壊する可能性をはらんでいたからです。
こうした危機が、恐ろしい政治的・社会的惨事へと発展した理由を理解するには、200年にわたる独立国としてのギリシャの歩みをたどる必要があります。本書では、最初にこの危機が現代ギリシャ社会に与えた影響を明らかにしています。次にギリシャ近代史に焦点を当て、19世紀初頭から現在に至るまでの国の発展をたどります。19世紀初頭の独立運動、トルコとギリシャが相互に大規模な民族浄化を行った第一次世界大戦後、第二次世界大戦中のナチス・ドイツによる占領、その後の残酷な内戦、キプロスをめぐってのトルコとの紛争、1967年の軍事クーデター、民主化と欧州連合への加盟など、主要エピソードを網羅しています。そして最後に2010年以降の経済危機を詳細に取り上げます。著名な政治学者のスタティス・カリヴァスが経済危機によるギリシャの混乱と、そこに至った経緯について、深い見識を提供しています。
    

• Combines the most up-to-date economic and political-science findings on the current Greek crisis with a discussion of Greece's history
• Greece's economic and political future as a member of the European Monetary Union is very unpredictable at the moment, though the decision will have great repercussions for the rest of Europe and the world
• Makes original historical connections between Greece as a newly-independent country and Greece today

  
Just a few years ago, Greece appeared to be a politically secure nation with a healthy economy. Today, Greece can be found at the center of the economic maelstrom in Europe. Beginning in late 2008, the Greek economy entered a nosedive that would transform it into the European country with the most serious and intractable fiscal problems. Both the deficit and the unemployment rate skyrocketed. Quickly thereafter, Greece edged toward a pre-revolutionary condition, as massive anti-austerity protests punctuated by violence and vandalism spread throughout Greek cities. Greece was certainly not the only country hit hard by the recession, but nevertheless the entire world turned its focus toward it for a simple reason: the possibility of a Greek exit from the European Monetary Union, and its potential to unravel the entire Union, with other weaker members heading for the exits as well. The fate of Greece is inextricably tied up with the global politics surrounding austerity as well. Is austerity rough but necessary medicine, or is it an intellectually bankrupt approach to fiscal policy that causes ruin? Through it all, Greece has staggered from crisis to crisis, and the European central bank's periodic attempts to prop up its economy fall short in the face of popular recalcitrance and negative economic growth. 

Though the catalysts for Greece's current economic crises can be found in the conditions and events of the past few years, one can only understand the factors that helped to transform these crises into a terrible political and social catastrophe by tracing Greece's development as an independent country over the past two centuries. In Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know, Stathis Kalyvas, an eminent scholar of conflict, Europe, and Greece, begins by elucidating the crisis's impact on contemporary Greek society. He then shifts his focus to modern Greek history, tracing the nation's development from the early nineteenth century to the present. Key episodes include the independence movement of the early nineteenth century, the aftermath of World War I (in which Turkey and Greece engaged in a massive mutual ethnic cleansing), the German occupation of World War II, the brutal civil war that followed, the postwar conflict with Turkey over Cyprus, the military coup of 1967, and-finally-democracy and entry into the European Union. The final part of the book will cover the recent crisis in detail. Written by one of the most brilliant political scientists in the academy, Greece is the go-to resource for understanding both the present turmoil and the deeper past that has brought the country to where it is now.