The Third Hellenic Republic ( el, Γ΄ Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Triti Elliniki Dimokratia) is the period in

modern Greek history The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine Empire had ...

that stretches from 1974, with the fall of the

Greek military junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Ε ...

and the final abolition of the

Greek monarchy The monarchy of Greece ( el, Μοναρχία της Ελλάδας, Monarchía tis Elládas) or Greek monarchy ( el, Ελληνική Μοναρχία, Ellinikí Monarchía) was the government in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign of ...

, to the present day. It is considered the third period of republican rule in Greece, following the First Republic during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

(1821–1832) and the Second Republic during the temporary abolition of the monarchy in 1924–1935. The term "''

Metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioaniddes military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections. The m ...

''" (Μεταπολίτευση, '

polity A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...

change') is commonly used for the entire period, but when used more strictly, this term refers to the early part of the period, beginning with the fall of the junta and culminating in the democratic transformation of the country. While the First and Second Hellenic Republics are not in common use except in a historiographic context, the term Third Hellenic Republic is used frequently. The Third Hellenic Republic has been characterised by the development of social freedoms, the European orientation of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and the political dominance of the parties ND and

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

. On the negative side the period has included high corruption, deterioration of certain economic indexes such as public debt, and

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

, mostly in the political scene and the state offices.

Events

This period has been marked by many significant changes in the country. In 1981 Greece joined the EU. Simultaneously, the centre-left party

won the election and changed the Greek political scenery. The decade of the 1990s saw the standard of living among Greeks steadily increase, a trend which reached its zenith around the time of the Olympic Games of 2004. On 1 January 2001, Greece voted to adopt the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, and the currency was introduced in the country one year later on 1 January 2002. In the last months of 2009, the

Greek debt crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis (Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that l ...

broke out, an event that brought about great changes on both a social and political level. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused more economic hardship for Greece.

Presidents of the Third Hellenic Republic

Michail Stasinopoulos Michail Stasinopoulos ( el, Μιχαήλ Στασινόπουλος; 27 July 1903 – 31 October 2002) was a Greek jurist and politician who served as President of Greece from 18 December 1974 to 19 July 1975. A member of New Democracy, he was the ...

(1974–1975) *

Konstantinos Tsatsos Konstantinos D. Tsatsos ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Τσάτσος; July 1, 1899 – October 8, 1987) was a Greek diplomat, professor of law, scholar and politician. He served as the second President of the Third Hellenic Republic from 197 ...

(1975–1980) *

Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...

(1980–1985) *

Christos Sartzetakis Christos Sartzetakis ( el, Χρήστος Σαρτζετάκης; 6 April 1929 – 3 February 2022) was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the President of Greece from 1985 to 1990. Early life and educ ...

(1985–1990) *

(1990–1995) *

Konstantinos Stephanopoulos Konstantinos "Kostis" Stephanopoulos ( el, Κωνσταντίνος (Κωστής) Στεφανόπουλος, 15 August 1926 – 20 November 2016) was a Greek conservative politician who served two consecutive terms as the president of Gree ...

(1995–2005) *

Karolos Papoulias Karolos Papoulias ( el, Κάρολος Παπούλιας ; 4 June 1929 – 26 December 2021) was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), he previously ...

(2005–2015) *

Prokopis Pavlopoulos Prokopios Pavlopoulos ( el, Προκόπιος Παυλόπουλος, ; born 10 July 1950), commonly shortened to Prokopis (Προκόπης), is a Greek lawyer, university professor and politician who served as the president of Greece from 2015 ...

(2015–2020) *

Katerina Sakellaropoulou Katerina Sakellaropoulou ( el, Κατερίνα Σακελλαροπούλου, Latn, el, Katerína Sakellaropoúlou, ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since 13 March 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic ...

(2020–present)

Political parties in Third Hellenic Republic

1974–1989

This period began with the centrists and centre-right being dominant, though the former lost support in the late 1970s with the rise of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

. Also the Communist Party of Greece was allowed to take part in elections for first time after the end of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

. The table below shows the results of elections during this period.

1990–2007

This period began with the fall of communist regimes in

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. It is characterized by the reinforcement of bipartisanship with the two main parties (New Democracy and PASOK) regularly polling over 80% of the vote between them, even reaching 86%.

2009–2019

This period corresponds to

Greek government-debt crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis ( Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that ...

, that changed dramatically the political stage. Early in the period, PASOK were able to capitalise on a loss of support for ND. However, by the early 2010s, PASOK were also attracting blame for their handling of the crisis, and the radical party

SYRIZA The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

became the largest party on the left. The position of the far-right was also strengthened in this period. SYRIZA has since overtaken PASOK as the main party of the centre-left. Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to victory in the general election held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats. The following morning, Tsipras reached an agreement with Independent Greeks party to form a coalition, and he was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece. Tsipras called snap elections in August 2015, resigning from his post, which led to a month-long caretaker administration headed by judge

Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou Vasiliki Thanou-Christophilou ( el, Βασιλική Θάνου-Χριστοφίλου, ; born 3 November 1950), also known as just Vasiliki Thanou, is a Greek judge who served as caretaker Prime Minister of Greece from 27 August to 21 September ...

, Greece's first female prime minister. In the September 2015 general election, Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks. However, he was defeated in the July 2019 general

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he has been its presi ...

who leads New Democracy. On 7 July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. He formed a centre-right government after the landslide victory of his New Democracy party.

2020s

In March 2020, Greece's parliament elected a non-partisan candidate,

Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou Katerina Sakellaropoulou ( el, Κατερίνα Σακελλαροπούλου, Latn, el, Katerína Sakellaropoúlou, ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since 13 March 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic ...

, as the first female

President of Greece The president of Greece, officially the President of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρόεδρος της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Próedros tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), commonly referred to in Greek as the President of the Rep ...

Notes

References

{{reflist Political history of Greece 1974 in Greece States and territories established in 1974 1974 establishments in Greece 1970s in Greek politics Constantinos Karamanlis