Greek Politicians as Policy Entrepreneurs in a Two-Level Game

Building on previous experience that has shown that in many occasions the role and impact of domestic factors was not entirely transparent when in an international affairs platform, Putnam (1988) explains that there are two games that need to be acknowledged in such situations. This two-level game metaphor appears to provide a well-grounded framework of analysis, when looking at the relation between the European Institutions and the Greek Government of Syriza (2015-2019), a predominantly populist party in the European Union, which was arguing against the Europeanization-as-usual. Reflecting on what Putman refers to as ‘honest brokers’ this paper aims to emphasise on the role of individuals in the negotiations process, by bringing the notion of policy entrepreneurs to the discussion. By doing so, the analysis not only addresses the role of key players in a specific negotiating context, but also points out the additional factors that play a role in the construction of a specific negotiating policy, by a policy entrepreneur that acts simultaneously as a negotiator in a two-level environment.