Snapshot+-+Social,+political+and+economic+unrest+-+Greece

GREEK TERRITORIES AND GOVERNANCE
The state of Greece was formed in 1829 and is situated in the southeast corner of Europe.The population of Greece is approximately 10,749,743 living in an area encompassing 131,957 square kilometres. (Wikipedia, 2010) The capital city is Athens and modern Greece has a long history dating back to ancient civilisations. The region is a major tourist attraction with more than 2000 islands (Sidiropoulos, Makridou-Bousiou and Mavromati, 2010) and tourism is the main income earner for the country.

The parliamentary government of Greece is currently led by George Papandreou and it is this government that has seen the country face bankruptcy forcing the introduction of austerity measures which have had a significant impact on the Greek population. Greece has recently received funding from the European Union with significant support from Germany which has supported the country to continue economically albeit with some severe austerity cuts. This BBC article illustrates what the austerity measures are and describes the violent clashes and strikes occuring in response to these measures. []

ECONOMIC SITUATION
The economic situation in Greece is dire with the country's financial existence hanging in the balance. This series of interviews from academics, economists and professionals detail the current situation and talk diversely about possible outcomes. []

Educational funding in tertiary institutions has been cut severely to 3% of GNP making Greece the lowest funder of education in the European Union. Academics have had their pays cut and the institutions have been made to cut 30% off their internal budgets. The Ministry of Education advises that there will be a reform in September which will assist in the restructuring of higher education. This article gives an outline of what is happening with regards to higher education. []

SOCIAL CONDITIONS
The effects of the economic unrest in Greece have spread far and wide throughout the social fabric of the country. Greeks have been protesting loudly at the austerity measures and with their implementation on the 5th of May 2010 are now starting to feel the effects both financially and socially. The two videos below illustrate the current events and feelings of some members of public.

media type="youtube" key="hE_bCLZzrjY?fs=1" height="405" width="500" [Youtube user Fal2Grace. Greek austerity measures start to bite on Athens.] media type="youtube" key="qmvPl-2OulE?fs=1" height="405" width="500" [Youtube user Channel Actualidad. Greek austerity measures start to bite on Athens.]

BROADBAND ACCESS
According to the Internet World Useage Statistics [] Greece has an internet useage penetration ratio of 46.2% of the population represented as 4,970,700 users in an approximate population base of 10,749,943.

The World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2010 [] illustrates Greece's position in the world in respect to telecommunications and ICT useage. This report follows on from the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) 2015 set by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2005. This summit and the MDG attempt to define global targets for adoption and development of telecommunications.