Political Leadership in Crisis: A Study of Greek Government Communication During the 1987 and 1996 Military Conflicts

In this study, we employed the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and the regulatory focus theory (RFT) to Greek government communication in the context of the 1987 and 1996 military crises with Turkey. Considering the value of timeliness in political communication, we analyzed the rhetoric of prime ministers and spokespersons during 40 days as depicted in the press. The purpose of this comparative analysis is, by leveraging content analysis, to examine the crisis communication strategies, the spokespersons’ contributions to this process, and to evaluate the rhetoric of the main addresses of the two prime ministers. This led us to propose the following research questions for consideration: (a) What were the government’s crisis communication strategies during the 1987 and 1996 crises? (b) In terms of regulatory focus theory, what rhetoric did each prime minister employ in his main address? (c) What was the contribution of the respective spokesperson? This study has significant theoretical and practical implications for political and public administration managers and consultants, as the first study examining such situations under the prism of SCCT and RFT. Results indicate that divergent government communication strategies were applied, while the spokespersons’ contribution impacted public and intra-party trust and societal endorsement.