The New York Times
By MARK MAZOWER
Published: June 29, 2011
YESTERDAY, the whole world was watching Greece as its
Parliament voted to pass a divisive package of austerity measures that could
have critical ramifications for the global financial system. It may come as a
surprise that this tiny tip of the Balkan Peninsula
could command such attention. We usually think of Greece as the home of Plato and
Pericles, its real importance lying deep in antiquity. But this is hardly the
first time that to understand Europe’s future, you need to turn away from the
big powers at the center of the continent and look closely at what is happening
in Athens . For
the past 200 years, Greece
has been at the forefront of Europe ’s
evolution.