Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (Greek: Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, pronounced [anˈðreas papanˈðreu]; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who was prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996. He founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

Born in Chios, Papandreou was the son of prime minister Georgios Papandreou. In 1938, Papandreou left Greece for the United States to escape the 4th of August Regime and became a prominent academic. He returned to Greece in 1959 after years of resisting his father's entreaties to prepare him as successor. After joining the now-ruling Centre Union party in 1963, Papandreou's rapid ascension during his father's premiership, together with his uncompromising radical rhetoric, amplified Greece's post–Civil War political instability, which created the conditions for a group of colonels to stage a coup d'état and rule Greece for seven years. Papandreou was imprisoned, then exiled during the ensuing Greek Junta, with many, including his father, blaming him for the fall of democracy. In exile, Papandreou developed and spread an anti-American, conspiratorial narrative of past events, in which he was a victim of larger forces.

On his return in 1974, Papandreou created PASOK, the first organised Greek democratic socialist party. Papandreou's populist rhetoric resonated with the Greek people who sought a break from the politics of the past, along with the mounting pressure from the 1970s energy crisis. PASOK won the 1981 elections and Papandreou implemented a transformative social agenda, expanding access to education and healthcare, reinforcing workers' rights, and passing a new family law that elevated the position of women in society and the economy. He secured official recognition of the communist resistance groups in the Greek Resistance, making it easier for communist refugees from the Civil War to return. His governance was tarnished by numerous corruption scandals, a soft stance on terrorism, democratic backsliding, a public divorce and subsequent marriage to an air stewardess half his age, controversial foreign policy decisions, and a constitutional crisis which he had instigated. Under Papandreou, the Greek economy diverged from the European average because of large-scale patronage, misuse of European Union funds, and excessive foreign borrowing, which resulted in Greece earning the reputation of Europe's "black sheep" and "lost cause".

Papandreou resigned from the premiership in January 1996 due to ill health and died in June of that year. He transformed Greece's post-junta liberal democracy into a populist democracy that continues to be popular after his death. His eldest son, George Papandreou, became the leader of PASOK in February 2004 and served as prime minister from 2009 to 2011.