Administrative and Territorial Structure in Modern Greece

The issue of administrative and territorial units in Greece goes back to the beginnings of the Modern Greek state. Yet, since the 1990s, it has come back as a major matter of discussion and a constant concern for the administration and the scientific community due to the two major reforms that have taken place: the Kapodistrias program – Law 2539/1997 and the Kallikratis program – Law 3852/2010. The main objective of these two reforms was to establish stronger local administrative, operational, managerial, and territorial units with a view to drastically reducing their number and increasing their reference area. These two major reforms have brought about significant changes in the country’s map, not only in terms of administrative function but also in other sectors such as spatial analysis and the temporal elaboration of statistics. Over the same period, other Legislative Acts, such as the recent Law 4555/2018 (Kleisthenis program), had a significant impact on how the country’s administrative and territorial structure is dealt with and redefined. The purpose of this work is to address these administrative changes as well as their impact, not only on the administration and functioning of local authorities but also on the way these geographical entities are perceived.