Privatization in the name of ‘Europe’: analyzing the telecoms privatization in Greece from a ‘discursive institutionalist’ perspective

This paper analyzes why governments in Greece have systematically appealed to ‘Europe’ during their domestic privatization discourse. It illustrates that, when proposed policy reforms get rough and the opposition grows, governments anticipate garnering increased public justification in order to implement their policies by justifying their choices in the name of Europe. In addition, it attempts to contribute to the opening up of discourse analysis in the field of political science and to reveal how the institutional arrangement across a polity is at least partially responsible for the approach national actors pursue in it and the form of the domestic discourse they produce.