Geopolitics has always been invoked as an explanation for Greek foreign policy and its position in the European and broader international order. This event examined to what extent the intersection of geography and politics accounts for Greece’s external relations and to what extent it provides a useful link in understanding Greece’s international position in 1821 and the 21st Century.

Meet our speakers and chair

Konstantina E. Botsiou studied History-Archaeology at the University of Athens and holds a PhD from the University of Tübingen. She is Associate Professor and Director of KEDIS (Centre for Greek and International History) at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese, where she also served as Vice Rector for Quality Assurance. She is Visiting Professor at the Hellenic National Defence College and General Director of The Council for International Relations-Greece. Her books include Greece’s Course to Europe (1999, in German); Europe between NATO and the EEC (2002); The Balkans in the Cold War, co-ed. (2017/2019); 1821: from the Revolution to State Formation (2021).

Erik Goldstein is Professor of International Relations and History, Boston University (USA), before which he was Professor of International History in the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham. The author of numerous books and articles in journals including Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, East European Quarterly, and Review of International Relations. He was the founder editor of Diplomacy & Statecraft, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

George Prevelakis is Professor Emeritus, Sorbonne University, and Permanent Representative of Greece at the OECD. Born in Athens in 1949, he studied Architecture in Athens and Geography and Planning at the Sorbonne. He specialises in the Geopolitics of Europe, of the Eastern Mediterranean and in Diaspora Geopolitics. His last books are : Who are we ? The Geopolitics of Greek Identity, Kerkyra-Economia Publishing, Athens, 2017, Qui sont les Grecs ? Une identité en crise (CNRS Editions, Paris, 2017) and The Wooden Walls. Geopolitics of the Greek Networks, (Kerkyra - Economia Publishing, 2020; in Greek under translation)

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).

More about this event

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.

The event is part of the 21 in 21 activities, celebrating the 2021 bicentenary of the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 21 Greek-British encounters. The 21 in 21 events are sponsored by the A.G. Leventis Foundation. 

 The twitter Hashtag for this event is: #LSEGreece

Podcast

Listen to the podcast here.

Video

Watch the video here.