funded by the Hellenic Foundation for
Research and Innovation,

‘Science and Society’ Action “200 years since the Greek Revolution”

Title of the project:

The struggle between tradition and modernity and the Constitution under the Greek revolutionary ‘State’

Host Institution:
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Project Coordinator:
Assoc. Prof. (Lina) Papadopoulou

Duration of funding: 11/02/2020 – 10/02/2023

 

Project Summary

• Constitutes a first attempt to promote an ‘encounter’ between the contemporary trends in Greek historiography and sociology on the subject of the Greek Revolution and the ‘classic’ constitutional history of the period.
• Attempts to bring to light aspects of the early Greek state (administration, education, Church) through the prism of the Constitution.
• Makes methodological use of the ‘tradition-modernity’ antithesis to provide a different interpretation of the prevailing revolutionary ideas in the fields of institutional-constitutional practices and legal discourse.
• On an initial level, examines the representations on the issue of constitutional organization, i.e. the governing institutions of revolutionary Greece, as well as the way in which this constitutional framework operates.
• Provides a picture of the synthesis of tradition and modernity, mainly in terms of the practices employed in the appointment of representatives to the national assemblies, the views on the ‘infringement’ of constitutional rules, and the different perceptions of the ‘nation’ in the formulation of revolutionary discourse.
• On a second level, examines how the formation of a Greek ‘national’ identity permeates, as an ideology, formal education through the promotion of a new education system that is linked with the vision of a regenerated Greece.
• Aims to highlight how the struggle between modern educational currents and spiritual forces adhering to an Orthodox Christian tradition has a decisive effect on the relationship between State and Church.

 

Research Team

Eleonora A. Giatsidou
Graduate of the Faculty of Theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She received the postgraduate specialization diploma and the doctoral diploma in Canon and Ecclesiastical Law from the School of Theology. Her published papers belong in the field of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law. She has taught assigned courses on Canon and Ecclesiastical Law in the same Department, in post-secondary and secondary education. She devises postodoctoral research in School of Theology.

 

Antonios Kouroutakis
Dr. Antonios Kouroutakis is Assistant Professor at IE University in Madrid, Spain and he teaches Constitutional Law and the Regulation of New Technologies. Dr Kouroutakis has taught a variety of law courses and conducted research at the City University of Hong Kong, the Free University of Berlin, FVG Sao Paolo, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He received a DPhil in Law from University of Oxford and an LLM from UCLA School of Law. Dr. Kouroutakis’ research interests lie mainly in the field of constitutional engineering, public law and regulation. Dr. Kouroutakis work has appeared at Public Law Review, Statute Law Review, Stanford Journal of International Law, Journal of High Technology Law and the Cambridge International Law Journal.
Furthermore, Dr. Kouroutakis’s comment and quotes has appeared at the international press at The Washington Post and ISTOE.

 

Konstantinos Papastathis

Dr. Konstantinos Papastathis is an assistant professor at the department of Political Science of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). He also collaborates on the research project: ‘CrossRoads: European cultural diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine’ at Leiden University. He has studied theology, philosophy and political science at AUTh and K.U. Leuven. He has worked as a research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2011-13), and the University of Luxembourg (2013-2018). His main research interests involve politics and religion, church history, as well as Middle Eastern studies. He currentlyy works on the interaction between religion and the radical right in Europe, as well as on the so-called Jerusalem Question. He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals (Religion, State and Society, Politics, Religion and Ideology; Middle Eastern Studies; British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies; Jerusalem Quarterly; Journal of Eastern Christian Studies; and others), as well as in collective volumes.

 

Michael Tsapogas
Born in Athens, 1963. Law Degree, University of Athens, 1985). Doctorate in Law, University of Munich, 1991 («Staatsrationalisierung und Verfassungsbewegung in Griechenland 1832-1843»). Attorney at law, 1987. Researcher, University Research Institute for Hellenic Constitutional History (1993-96). Researcher, Max-Planck-Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte (Frankfurt), 1996-98. Senior Investigator at the Greek Ombudsman since 1998. Research Projects on Constitutional History, funded by GSRT (1985-87 & 1993-94). Research Group «Europäische Verfassungsgeschichte im 19. Jahrhundert» at the University of Hagen (2007-2009). Postgraduate course teaching «History of European Philosophy of Law» at the Panteion University, 2009-2011. Member of the National Commission for Human Rights, 2015-2019. Publications and editing of collective volumes in Constitutional Law, Legal History, Greek and Comparative Constitutional History.

 

Panagiotis Tsafos
Dr. Panagiotis Tsafos has supported a Doctorate thesis in the field of Management Science, Public Law and Policy in the University of Athens and has received an Onassis Foundation’s Scholarship for greek PhD candidates. At the same time, he supported a PhD research program in the Autonomy University of Madrid because of his thesis. Mr. Tsafos has studied and achieved a grade of “Excellent” in two MSc Programs: i. a MSc Programm in the field of “State and Public Policy” in Kapodistrian University of Athens, ii. a MSc Program in the field of “Political Science and History” in Panteion University of Athens. Mr. Tsafos has also studied two undergraduate programs: i. “Political Science and History” in the School of Political Sciences and the Department of Political Science and History (Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens), and ii. in the Law School and Law Department (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). Today he provides legal Services specializing in Public Law.

 

Despoina Tsintza
Was born in Thessaloniki. She graduated with honors from the School of Philosophy and Education of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with specialisation in Education in 2015 and holds a Master Degree from the same department in “Science of Education” with specialisation in “History of Education” in 2019. From 2020 she is a PhD candidate at the School of Philosophy and Education of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.The issue of the current thesis is: “The path of a “noiseless” educator. The philosophy, the educational effect and the contribution of Miltos Kountouras in the educational policy of the Modern Greek state” (three-member committee: V. Foukas, D. Mauroskoufis, I. Mpetsas).
Email: desptsin@edlit.auth.gr