The 1990s are characterized as a period of significant and rapid changes on a universal scale. Various developments have affected Greece in its interior political and social life as well as in its wider environments (EU, Balkans, East Mediterranean). Such instances are the fall of the ‘eastern bloc socialism’, the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations that had been formed during the Cold War, the prevalence of the USA as the only superpower and the increased significance of regional encounters and forces.

Since the beginning of and throughout the decade, the integration course of the European Union has been redefined and intensified. The Maastricht Treaty (1992), the gradual integration of member states in the common European currency zone (Euro) and the procedures of political convergence that followed the economic unification, were the milestones of the country’s economic, political and social course. This course was never the subject of discussion in Greece, as was the case in most of the other member states.

Nevertheless, there were certain issues that engendered dialogue and confrontation and ultimately concerned the country’s position in the new system of international relations. Such issues were the ‘Macedonia problem’, the breakup of Yugoslavia, the crises in the relations between Greece and Turkey (the armament of Cyprus, the Imia, the Ocalan case) but also the modernization and secularization of the state’s functions. Even thus, the European orientation of the country and the consequent modernization of society constituted the main area of political and social confrontations that characterized Greek society during the 1990s.