丁香园AV

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies is pleased to a public seminar by Katerina Sokou, a visiting scholar at George Washington University鈥檚 Elliott School of International Affairs and the Washington, DC correspondent for Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini and SKAI TV, reporting on transatlantic relations, U.S. politics, and the IMF. She will be presenting her research in a talk entitled "The U.S. role in the Greek debt crisis: Small economy, big geopolitical implications."

Campus: 丁香园AV Burnaby
Room: Academic Quadrangle 6204
Date: January 15, 2018
Time: 2:30pm

This event is free, but seating is limited, please RSVP to hsevents@sfu.ca

Abstract

"The U.S. role in the Greek debt crisis: Small economy, big geopolitical implications"

What role did the U.S. play in trying to contain the Greek debt crisis, and what impact did it have? Why did the U.S. care about a small economy of the Eurozone that represents 0.3% of the global economy? 

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis dominated the headlines and threatened to bring down the Eurozone, prompting the U.S. to act as a mediator between Greece and its European creditors in order to avoid a Greek default. But even as American involvement was deemed necessary due to the imminent danger of financial contagion, it was also rooted on geopolitical considerations: the need to safeguard U.S. interests in a traditionally volatile region amid new challenges like the refugee crisis, the civil war in Syria and increasingly fractious relations with Turkey.