Megaprojects, Neoliberalization, and State Capacities: Assessing the Medium-Term Impact of the 2004 Olympic Games on Athenian Urban Policies

Abstract

With this paper we examine the 2004 Olympic Games as an ambivalent catalyst for the implementation of neoliberal urban policies in Athens. We draw upon two distinct analytical streams: first, regulationist scholars' conception of neoliberalization as a path-dependent and, to a large extent, state-led process, and, second, Skocpol's ‘autonomy state’ approach. We argue that the implementation of neoliberal urban policies in Athens has been shaped by a combination of centralism, low central state capacity, organizational and financial weakness of business elites, and citizen movements' opposition. We first provide an overview of Athenian urban policies since the 1960s; then we examine the preparation of the 2004 Olympic Games; and, finally, we investigate the post-Olympic use of Olympic venues, including the period of the current sovereign debt crisis. In the conclusion we emphasize that the bailout agreement between Greece and the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Union aims at reboosting neoliberal public policies in a radical way.