Introduction

In this chapter I shall attempt to explore the relationship between business and politics by focusing on the role of Greece as a developmental and entrepreneurial state. Looking at networks allows us to observe relations between the real agents of power, i.e. businessmen and politicians, and to assess changes in the degree of complementarity between economic interests (and economic power) exercised by various groups, on the one hand, and political authority embodied by the modern state, especially by the government and its agencies, on the other. The cases presented are intended to highlight the changing relationship between business and politics arising out of the evolution of the Greek state at different moments during the last 100 years. The nature of networks is also explored, both as mechanisms of adjustment and as channels of influence and power. References are made, following the history of the growth of the Greek state, to two main periods, namely: the end of the nineteenth century; and the inter-war years. Some analogies are also drawn with regard to recent developments.

The state and networks in the Balkans

Starting with the recent period, reference should be made to the role of the Greek state in relation to business expansion and its consequences within the framework of growing internationalisation in the Balkan region. Economic diplomacy provides abundant instances for testing the hypothesis that today private economic and state interests are increasingly more complementary.