November 3, 2011
The referendum idea that caught most of Europe by surprise was characteristic of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, an unconventional politician who combines high-minded democratic idealism with a penchant for high-risk power plays.
The 59-year-old American-born scion of Greece's leading political family—son and grandson of two famous postwar prime ministers—has previously tried to break out of political binds by throwing issues open to the electorate, or via surprise initiatives.
"It is vintage Papandreou, something he learned from his father and grandfather, namely the element of surprise and turning the tables," says Stan Draenos, a Greek-American historian and biographer of longtime Greek leader Andreas Papandreou, the premier's father.
The younger Mr. Papandreou, a left-leaning liberal influenced by the U.S. counterculture of his student days at Amherst College, has long hoped to make Greece's murky political culture more transparent. In 2007, while in opposition, he defeated a challenge for the Socialist party leadership by holding a U.S.-style primary election, breaking with the Greek tradition of settling such matters in backroom deals.
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