Taking a long view, he says:
The three countries who did the most to build the modern global, liberal, capitalist and democratic world order (the Netherlands, Britain and the United States) were blessed by both the geography fairy and the culture fairy. Geographically they were placed where they were relatively free to develop on their own without being the playthings of foreign interests. Culturally they were the products of a history which gave them a set of attitudes and values that promoted their success as capitalist countries.Greece didn't develop the culture or have the geography to make capitalism a comfortable fit:
In many parts of the world it is easy to spot a vicious cycle at work. Because a country or a culture missed the visit of either or both of the two modernization good fairies (geography and culture) it starts out handicapped in the race to master capitalism and control their own destiny. As a result, they fall behind, and lose power and control to other, faster rivals. Capitalism becomes ever less popular, ever more associated in the public mind with a world system felt to be wrong and unfair. Those feelings of alienation make it steadily harder for the country to adopt and follow the policies that could reverse the cycle and bring it success.Go see the entire article which is entirely worth your time.
