ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΙΑΣ

2ο Διεθνές Συνέδριο Οικονομικής και Κοινωνικής Ιστορίας

Οι "Αγορές" και η Πολιτική
Ιδιωτικά συμφέροντα και δημόσια εξουσία (18ος-20ός αιώνας)

Βόλος, 10-12 Φεβρουαρίου 2012

To σκεπτικό του συνεδρίου Οργανωτές και χορηγοί Συμμετέχοντες Το πρόγραμμα του συνεδρίου Το πρακτικά του συνεδρίου

Περιλήψεις

Christina Agriantoni & Evridiki Sifneos Businessmen involved in politics. Greece, 1880-1940

Τhis paper explores some of the ways in which business and politics come in contact. Taking for granted that markets and politics are closely connected, we try to understand how businessmen and political authorities communicate, negotiate and shape common or divergent views and how the particular historical context influences this dialogue. Businessmen directly involved in politics can help to better understand this process. As an introduction, we discuss the portrait of different economic actors that became parliament members in the 19th and 20th centuries and then we focus on two different entrepreneurial sectors –and the relevant policy domains–, merchant marine and industry, in the period 1890-1930. In the shipping sector, the action of Epameinondas Embeirikos, a modernizing ship-owner and a politician, trying to introduce a new institutional framework in order to support the passage of the merchant marine from sail to steam (1890-1910), reveals the impact of long-established local interests, whereas the subsequent close connection of his nephew Leonidas Embeirikos with Venizelos and his party (1910-1920), speaks of the limits of political affiliation of the entrepreneurs and the importance of the strategic considerations on behalf of the political leaders. In the industrial sector, the dialogue took early enough institutional forms (the League of Industrialists was created in 1907) and was heavily influenced by ideological factors, namely a prevalent negative attitude towards the industrial perspectives of the country. The episodes of this dialogue that are shortly presented (1910-14, 1918-22, 1928-32) show the importance of social concerns and ideology, but also, again, of strategic considerations, in the shaping of the industrial policy of the country. Concluding remarks stress the complexity and strong dependency from the historical context of both policy domains, a complexity which leaves little room for simplifying efficiency or economic rationality theories.


<<