Greece's Continuing Cycle of Debt and Default

Greece is no stranger to economic crises such as the current one. The country has been in debt since its independence and has gone through a cycle of borrowing and defaulting numerous times. Foreign powers have always had an interest in maintaining Greece's stability, so previously they always agreed to refinance its debts. The only new factor in Greece's ongoing crisis is that the country is not as strategically important to outsiders as it was before the end of the Cold War, so foreign governments are not as interested in loaning Athens money.