Global Issues
Greece is located in Southern Europe on the Southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is estimated that Greece poses archipelago of around 2,000 islands. Its land borders with Macedonia, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Ionia Sea. It is strategically located, thus dominating the southern approach and the Aegean Sea to the Turkish Straits. The system of government that is practiced by Greece is the parliamentary republic, whereby the president is the chief of the state while the prime minister is the head of the government. It has a market economy in which the prices of commodities and services are measured in a free price system. The participation of Greece in Global issues is based on the fact that it is one of the members of the European Union (EU). Greece engages in all Global issues such as terrorism, human trafficking, poverty, and so on. Its participation is in joint efforts with other European Union member countries in a practical extension of the principles of the Greek foreign policy.
Financial Crisis Challenges in globalization
Greece experienced a very severe economic crisis whose scale was comparable to the Great Depression. In 2008 and 2013 Greece real GDP decreased by 23percent and the level of unemployment reached 27.5percent in 2013. It was almost four times the 2008 level. The cause of this economic challenge of 2007-2008 can be traced through the surpluses that accumulated over the years, resulting in the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. The fiscal profligacy is to be blamed for the Greece financial crisis. This is because the government of Greece is uniquely accountable for the hardship that has befallen Greece because it could have behaved sensibly. Greece crisis sufficed to decrease the public debts and deficits, and it could have been avoided if Greece could not have been permitted in the euro. Indeed, it is something that dominated the 2013 pre-election campaign whereby both the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party Sigmar Gabriel and Chancellor Merkel claimed that Grece should not have joined the European Union. What it means is that Greece is responsible for the global Eurozone crisis. Following the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, all the four countries in the Eurozone, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece rushed to reduce their cross-border financial flows that built adjustment problems for all of them notwithstanding their previous fiscal position. Unfortunately, countries with huge fiscal deficits such as Greece had less space to develop and faced more severe implications. What is shows is that Greece foreign policies affect major countries in the Eurozone. The presence of fiscal imbalances caused the Eurozone crisis, but Greece was simply the worst countries to be affected. Generally, speaking, the causes of the euro crisis were much broader than Greece, and the absence of Greece from the Eurozone would not have shielded the crisis.
Global Society Human rights
Greece is a member of the United Nations, which embraces human rights. In Greece, human rights are viewed by various institutions such as Amnesty International. Greece is a member of the European Convention on Human Rights. The constitution of Greece also warrants basic human rights to all her citizens. Today, the most important human rights issue facing Greece at times is overcrowding and deplorable conditions due to the high number of immigrants and asylum seekers. It is followed by a lack of potable water, inadequate shelter, and lack of enough food as well as other physical abuse by the policy. There is also issues of poor conditions and some claim of abuse of individuals incarcerated in detention centers and prisons as well as societal discrimination and cases of violence against persons perceived to be foreigners.
According to the United Convention on Human Rights, other human rights issues incorporate some constraints on access to the asylum application procedures along with an insufficient capacity to give legal assistance and social support for refugees and asylum seekers. It Is also reported that trafficking in persons is a global human right issue that Greece face as well as discrimination against members of the gay, transgender, lesbian, bisexual and intersex community. However, the government of Greece is committed to protecting individual human rights issues.
Greece regards the indivisible and universal nature and interconnection of political and civil rights as vital. Drawing from Stone (2008), Greece also regards that respect for human rights, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy with security, stability, justice and peace. Indeed, with the European Union and the United Nations system, Greece has long shown a strong interest in issues associating to human rights. Even now, Greece continues to engage actively in the principal multilateral for incorporating the 3rd General Assembly Committee and the Human Rights Council (HRC). This council was formed by the decision of the United Nation General Assembly in 2006, which replaced the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Foreign Ministry of Greece closely works with the United Nations organs on issues concerning human rights.
Promoting Democracy
During the ancient times, Greece was not a unified country as it is today. Greece was a collection of many city states. There was no democracy and the rich led the poor. Greece practiced the aristocratic form of government where power was maintained by the few wealthy families. However, Greece democracy can be traced during the 500 B.C.E where the people of Athens opted to throw their dictator of his passion and begin their own toes in self-representation. It was the first and biggest of the Greek democracies. Although the idea of democracy was coined in Ancient Greece, the contemporary path to a democratic state was not easy because the Turks occupied the Greeks and the Greeks had to endure oppression for centuries. After the Turks oppression, the Greeks were able to form their own government that embraced democracy. Today, democracy is promoted by the constitution. There is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the head of the government is the Prime Minister. There also exist multi-party systems and the individual rights are stated in the constitution of Greece.
Global Terrorism
Greece has consented all of the international legal tools on Terrorism since 1991. It has been a member of the Financial Action Task Force, which is an intergovernmental organization that support policies through various recommendations aimed at preventing the financing of terrorism. What it means is that Greece does not support terrorism activities at all cost. Indeed, in the effort to remove sources of terrorism funding, Greece has established a European Union working group the issue of fighting illegal trafficking in and sale of ancient artifacts from areas of Syria and Iraq. On the national level, it has established national legislation in the prohibition on financing of terrorism. For instance, the Counter-Terrorist Financing prohibits the financing of terrorists.
Global Trade
According to Lutz (2016), Greece is the 63rd biggest economy in the globe. It is also ranked as the 62nd most complicated economy in the world. The main exports of Greece are packaged Medicaments, Refined Petroleum, Aluminium Plating, Non-fillet Fresh Fish and Pure Olive Oil. Its main imports are Crude, Petroleum, Cars and Passenger and Cargo Ships. In the global trade, the main foreign trade partners of Greece are Germany, Italy, and Cyprus. America and Turkey. Greece global trade is based on its membership in the European Union. As a member of the European Union, foreign trade policy is created by the EU whereby every country must follow.
Global Inequality and Poverty
Poverty is a global issue, not only affecting Greece, but other countries as well. However, in Greece, poverty has been deepening since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Today, aid organization and local government feel the effect of poverty as Greece attempt to keep its financial system from collapsing and to break out of years of economic hardship. Indeed, much of Greece has been struggling with very high levels of unemployment, pensions, and cut in social welfare programs. According to Greece central bank report (2014), Greece is one of the greatest rates of income inequality among the European Union states. Drawing from the ETUI Policy Brief Manos Matsaganis and Chrysa Leventi analysis, the social and distributional implications of the austerity packages for the Greek population do not receive proper attention from the government (cited in Lutz 86). It was also found that as a result of the austerity, 5% of the Greek population income fall below the poverty line. Greece is committed to the equal distribution of resources as a member of the Eurozone since joining the European Union in 1981. However, Greece still has a large middle class, and the difference between the rich and the poor has widened steadily since the accession to the Eurozone. According to the 2009 data on poverty, it was found that 27.6percent of the Greeks risked social exclusion and poverty, and by 2014 this gap had increased to 36percent (Lutz 132) . What it means is that inequality and poverty are still a global problem in Greece.