What is the future for public trust and citizen engagement in Greek politics? What lessons can be drawn from the recent past? What is the scope for reform? Is new technology a friend or a foe and might it create a new politics? This discussion considered these issues from both an analytical and practitioner perspective. We discussed the role of ‘Vouliwatch’ as an NGO and its impact in Greece, alongside an academic assessment of the systemic issues raised. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Stefanos Loukopoulos (@StefLoukopoulos) is the Co-founder and Director of the Athens based, non for profit parliamentary monitoring and transparency promoting organization Vouliwatch (@vouliwatch). He holds a BA in Political Science an MA in International Relations and one in International Conflict Analysis. He completed his studies in the UK and Belgium. He has worked in the NGO sector both in London and Brussels as well as in the European Parliament. Stefanos is a founding member of the international association “Parliamentwatch Network” and has served as a member of the “Council of Citizens Control” of the Greek public broadcasting service. In recent years he has been involved actively both at national and international level in the fields of open government, civic technology, parliamentary openness and the freedom of access to information.

Vasiliki Georgiadou is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University and Director of the Centre for Political Research. She studied Political Science in Athens (Panteion University) and in Münster/Germany (Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster). Her current research interests focus on the comparative analysis of the far right parties, as well as on the  phenomena of populism, radicalism and extremism. She is now participating in the Horizon 2020 program EnTrust. Enlightened Trust: An examination of trust and distrust in governance. 

Lamprini Rori is an Assistant Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has previously been a lecturer in Politics at the University of Exeter, UK, a Jean Monnet Fellow at the EUI, a Leventis Fellow in Modern Greek Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Marie Curie Fellow at Bournemouth University, UK. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Université Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne. She was the PI of the Hellenic Observatory LSE grant ‘Low-intensity violence in crisis-ridden Greece: Evidence from the radical right and the radical left’, an Early Career Fellow at the British School in Athens, a Research Associate at the South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) and Media Officer for the Greek Politics Specialist Group of the UK’s Political Studies Association.

Spyros Economides is Associate Professor in International Relations and European Politics at the London School of Economics and Deputy Director of the Hellenic Observatory. His current research concentrates the external relations and security policies of the EU; Europeanisation and foreign policy, and the EU’s relationship with the Western Balkans. Dr Economides is also a regular commentator in national and international media on issues relating to Greece and those of the Western Balkans. His latest publication is Economides and Sperling (eds.) EU Security Strategies: Extending the EU System of Security Governance (2018).

The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSEGreece

Podcast

Listen to the podcast here.

Video

Watch the video here. 

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.