As equal citizens of our state, it goes without saying that the mandate we give to our representatives, elected by universal suffrage, is a mandate to maximise the effectiveness of their political administration. This authority is granted on the condition of broad agreement on the objectives pursued and of minimising the required costs. All this is described extensively and in detail for each area of political activity in the current Constitution. However, these are theoretical obligations that vary considerably in their implementation, mainly due to interference from the human factor, which dilutes the general objectives in favour of individuals or groups that have greater interference in the electoral process. Ultimately, many of these variations from the general goals come to the attention of the electorate, which ultimately elects those most consistent in promoting the common goals and with the lowest management costs. We will describe some of these deviations in more detail below.

Expensive party mechanisms, with their overstaffing and substantial administrative and promotional costs, absorb a significant portion of government spending. Of course, the direct funding of parties from the state was introduced in order to counteract their indirect funding by groups of powerful economic factors who were seeking to promote their own interests by integrating their goals into the general objectives promoted by the government of the day. The extent to which this has been achieved is always a matter to be proven and can only be determined after a detailed examination by citizens of the relevant legislation and its implementation in practice, which is no easy task.

Guilds, in the broad sense of the term, have a strong influence on government decisions, particularly in critical areas linked to everyday life and smooth social living. The privatisation of a large part of the state monopolies has reduced the influence of guilds through mobilisations for strike action, since their interests can no longer be promoted through the state budget and to a certain extent are in conflict with the interests of the new owners of these enterprises. However, the union influences, which ultimately lead to increased costs in the course of the implementation of common goals by governments, have taken another form. They are promoted, to a considerable extent, through informal arrangements between like-minded public and private sector professionals involved in the implementation of policy decisions. It is noteworthy that the present government has chosen ministers in many critical ministries from different professions and backgrounds from the main cadre of the sector. This generally mitigates guild-like choices in the management of state finances, but only at the level of central planning and legislation. A long-term and conscious effort is required to achieve positive management results, generalised down to the last state level, through the elimination of this kind of guild logic.

In particular, the public works sector is one of the most critical areas for the development of the above-mentioned logics, due to the high level of funding for public investment and its complex ramifications. A significant attempt to address side effects in this sector was made in the late 1990s, when major roads were designed and put out to tender. At that time, the political leadership (Souflias, Xanthopoulos) attempted to limit the large number of contracting companies by setting high financial and technological requirements in order for the bidding companies to be recognised and to be able to participate in tenders for large-budget project auctions. Reactions at many levels and from many directions have relativised the initial intentions. However, something important was achieved at the time: the implementation of major projects was linked to their long-term maintenance. Combined with bank financing for the construction companies, the good and safe execution of the projects was ensured through the possibility of control by the technical services of the banks, which were a third party between the contractors and the state, since banking interests forced a squeeze on the cost of long-term maintenance of the projects. From the above we can conclude that the way to eliminate the union influences in the public works sector is through the establishment and implementation of a legislative framework with competitive characteristics that can be applied in practice.

The catalyst for all of the above is the human factor and, in particular, the formation of the personality of citizens through the education system. The frequent lessons on the ancient Greeks should not be only of a verbal and pendantic nature, but they should also be focusing on the model of citizenship that our ancestors attempted to shape. The aim of education in ancient Athens was the formation of the ‘good citizen’. This ideal citizen gathered all the characteristics of Virtue, which according to Plato were wisdom, bravery, prudence, justice and piety, but also many other mental and physical virtues. The formation of the good citizen is also the only way to combat the rationales that lead to guild-like partnerships with weaken public finances.

In our region, Mani, these rationales have a small economic footprint, but because of the sparse population of the area they are very easy to see. Since the beginning of publication of our newspaper MANIOT SOLIDARITY we have been trying to discretely identify them and to contribute towards a solution…

                                                                                                ΤΗΕ ΕDITORIAL BOARD

The mapping of the human genome that has been completed in recent decades has fostered many subsequent research projects, including comparisons of individual genomes with others or with genomic patterns of tribes from modern or earlier times derived from examination of human cells. These exciting advancements in the science of biology have the potential to help shape more elements of our self-awareness. Since our genetic origins determine the majority of our actions over the course of our life, knowledge of our individual genome can provide explanations for most of our characteristics, from our physical makeup to our mental impulses. A necessary condition for reliable diagnoses, however, is the comparison of the individual gene profile with confirmed racial archetypes. The results of these comparisons, those obtained after assured scientific validation of all phases of the research and comparison process, can help explain many of the inner impulses in our adult life.

The most difficult phase in the evolution of the process described above is the selection of the standards against which each individual genome is compared. In our region, Mani, whose population composition has been little modified during the four centuries of Ottoman rule and to a small extent during the first century and a half of the modern Greek state, it is possible to draw largely safe conclusions about our individual genetic constitution after comparison with genomes of our ancestors from those centuries, as derived from scientific research of the remains of bodily material and used as standards for comparisons. In this way, it will be possible to identify the Maniot idiosyncracy which, in the current period, some people consider honourable and others renounce, despite the existence of clear evidence of their Maniot origin.

If we also wish to know whether and to what extent our genome is linked to the important migrations and settlements in Mani during the ten centuries (5th-15th) or how it is linked to the relocations of groups by the Crusaders of Western Europe in the 13th century, we can proceed by comparing our genome with the gene patterns of these tribes.

The self-awareness that emerges from these findings can provide a further impetus for joint action in the name of recently verified common biological origins. This self-knowledge will strengthen the common way of thinking of a large part of our compatriots which was formed as a result of the struggles of our ancestors for the preservation of the freedom and autonomy of the region during the many centuries of Ottoman rule.

It was mentioned earlier that there is also a significant portion of individuals who, although their personal data proves their Maniot ancestry, they deny it for various reasons. These deniers are the descendants of two different groups of Maniots who left our area for two reasons:

a) after the 1821 revolution, Ottomans got expelled and some Maniot warriors settled permanently the areas that they used to occupy. In these areas they earned income from estates that were much more prosperous than those they previously had in Mani. However, since the legalisation of their relocation was difficult and arbitrary, they had good reasons for concealing their origin. This tendency was passed on to the generations that followed until today.

b) after deadly family conflicts, in order to avoid reprisals, some Maniots left their ancestral homes and moved to areas, either remote rural or populous urban areas, where it was difficult to track them down. Strong evidence of the Maniot origin of the first group is the preservation in many cases of the surnames ending in -έας and -άκος (established mainly during the years of the revolutionary period 1821-1827) and of the second group the preservation of the surname “Mανιάτης” established after relocation to their new residences. However, as many decades have passed since their relocation, the original causes of ancestry concealment no longer exist, and the recognition of their ancestry could contribute to the strengthening of the population potential of Maniot origin, helping to promote the development goals of our region, which is also their ancestral land.

The above-mentioned procedures for checking individual genomes could lead to the verification of origin, but also to the interpretation of many of the specific characteristics of non-identified origin. Comparing the similarities of individual traits with important Maniot characteristics that have been generally recognised on the basis of historical patterns, such as the appeal to free action and individual autonomy, might also lead to the formation of Maniot consciousness.