Introduction: Crisis and Austerity

It has been a number of years now that Greece has been under the restructuring project known as austerity. Dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank, and the European Union (EU), known collectively as the Troika (though not always in consensus)—significant changes have been wrought, in return for the largest bailout in the IMF’s history. The extent and lasting impact of this project (for Greece, and for the Troika) we are only just beginning to comprehend. This period, from the start of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis up to this writing, has been wri tt en