Hellenic Statecraft and the Geopolitics of Difference

Drawing on a rich array of case studies, Papadopoulos and Petridis offer a remarkable portrait of the evolving political priorities of the modern Greek state, as well as the country’s wider regional geopolitical role. They effectively show how Greece’s political dispositions and geopolitical stratagems have shaped, and are shaped by historical-geographic imaginaries, urban dynamics, and dominant approaches to questions of difference. In so doing, Hellenic Statecraft offers insight not just into how to understand an individual case, but in how to approach studies of politics, geopolitics, and statecraft more generally. Alexander B. Murphy, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Oregon, USA

How did Hellenic heritage imaginings of territory construct the ideological underpinnings of Greece's practices of statecraft and nation-building? How and to what ends were historiography and geography marshalled to support the formation and expansion of the modern Greek territorial state? Importantly, how did the politics of difference determined the course of Greece's domestic and regional geopolitics? Drawing on urban fieldwork and a wealth of primary source material, Papadopoulos and Petridis address these critical questions in detailed case studies. This authoritative study is a must-read for scholars of European history, geography, and urbanism. Theodore G. Zervas, Professor, North Park University, USA

Papadopoulos and Petridis have written a thorough and detailed account of the birth and evolution of the modern Greek state and its territorialization. Most authors focus on competing intellectual discourses and political intrigue, but nation-state building processes are infinitely more complex. Papadopoulos and Petridis identify important but often underappreciated, even overlooked, threads. They eloquently reveal how Romantic notions of Hellenic purity and continuity have interacted and interwoven with Enlightenment ideas of citizenship, Great Power geopolitics, and now European Union supra-nationalism to make the Greece that appears on today’s world map. Most interesting, Papadopoulos and Petridis illustrate how governments employ settlement and city design, especially in borderlands, to create and shape modern national identity. Their work is a model for the study of statecraft and nation-building within the broader context of geopolitics. George W. White, Professor, South Dakota State University, USA

The study by Alex G. Papadopoulos and Triantafyllos G. Petridis can be understood as contributing to a general theoretical scheme, focusing on the polysemic characteristics of the concept of Hellenism during and following the Greek Revolution – a concept that during the construction of the Neohellenic State evolved into a "Hellenization" exclusively oriented towards the West. In their own study, the authors instrumentalize a geopolitics at the local level, thus escaping a stereotypical approach that would only have accentuated the nationalist character of the homogenization of the state. At the same time, the analysis of geopolitical conditions is deployed and incorporates the national territory and the Eastern Mediterranean region; their research is, therefore, remarkable as regards the methodological aspect but it is also very useful for the reader who wants to understand the current Greek reality. [translation] Catherine Brégianni, Research Director, Modern Greek History Research Center/Academy of Athens

L’étude de Alex G. Papadopoulos et de Triantafyllos G. Petridis peut s’intégrer à un schéma théorique général, se focalisant sur les caractéristiques polysémiques de la notion d’hellénisme lors de la Révolution grecque, notion qui s’est transformée en une «hellénisation» exclusivement orientée vers l'occident lors de la construction de l'État Néohellénique. Dans leur propre étude, les auteurs instrumentalisent une géopolitique au niveau local, échappant ainsi à une approche stéréotypée qui aurait accentué uniquement le caractère nationaliste de l’homogénéisation de l’Etat. En parallèle, l’analyse des conditions géopolitiques se déploie et incorpore le territoire national et la région de la Méditerranée de l’Est; leur recherche est donc remarquable en ce qui concerne l’aspect méthodologique mais elle est aussi très utile pour le lecteur qui veut comprendre la réalité grecque actuelle. [orignal] Catherine Brégianni, Research Director, Modern Greek History Research Center/Academy of Athens