Since 2010, Greece has entered an era of de facto limited sovereignty. As in other so-called ‘Programme Countries’ (most importantly, Ireland and Portugal), international financial assistance including debt relief has been dependent upon satisfactory progress on a detailed programme of fiscal cuts and policy reforms. By the end of 2014, Ireland and Portugal had successfully exited their economic adjustment programmes, while Greece was expected to do so ‘in the near future’. My research asks why the economic, social, and political effects of the crisis have been so much more severe in Greece than in the other two countries.
