About the lecture:
The point of departure for the lecture will be the conceptual distinction between “democracy”, defined minimally as a system guaranteeing free and fair elections in a given polity, and “liberal democracy” understood as an institutionalized system of electorally contested alternation in power, intimately intertwined with the rule of law and an embedded arsenal of human rights as these evolved over time, since the Second World War.

The central focus of the analysis will be the evolution of the value system(s) associated with these two variants of democratic rule since the establishment of the modern Greek state in the early part of the 19th century. Special emphasis will be accorded to the way the value system(s) linked to these variants of democracy have, over time, internalized major international developments affecting Greece and accordingly conceptualized or reconceptualized notions such as “citizen”, “citizenship”, “civil” and “civic”.

The Eleftherios Venizelos Chair was established in 2003 in recognition of the Greek statesman’s contribution to this country and his support to The American College of Greece in its relocation from Asia Minor to Greece, following the Catastrophe of Smyrna. The primary goal of the Chair is to focus research, debate and attention on the most important and interesting developments in Modern Greek history – a history in which Venizelos played a key role.