ADDING THE DOMESTIC DETERMINANTS TO GREEK FOREIGN POLICY

By most accounts, Greece's foreign policy choices since becoming a member of the European Union have been viewed as largely ineffective. Our paper seeks to account for the complexities, inconsistencies and changes in Greek foreign policy by looking at both domestic and international factors that impact foreign policy, within the framework of a two-level game. In other words, this paper argues that Greek foreign policy should be viewed as a multi-dimensional and complex two-level game that involves the interaction of Greece's international and domestic contexts. At the level of domestic politics, the paper will look at three elements in particular. These are the domestic Greek leadership preferences, coalition building strategies within the Greek political system, and the degree of issue polarization. We conclude that it is clear that an understanding of domestic politics helps us to better understand the motives behind foreign policy choices. This is true for large and small states alike. While small states like Greece may be seen to have less room to maneuver, given their greater vulnerability to the international environment, our cases illustrate that domestic politics indeed do play a significant role in shaping foreign policy decisions of Greece.