Migrant protest in times of crisis: politics,ethics and the sacred from below

This paper focuses on the 300 Migrant Hunger Strikers event in Greece to explore the material conditions of possibility for migrant politics in times of crisis. It identifies three elements that played determinant roles in the articulation of the event: the politics of equality enacted by migrants, the ethics of hospitality and witnessing enacted by the Greek activists and host populations and the sacredness of the event. Critically engaging with the theories of Rancière, Derrida, Agamben and Durkheim, this paper demonstrates how these elements encountered and how their encounter helped migrants to achieve rights, albeit limited and temporary. Moving beyond the particularity of the event, this paper also highlights the event’s importance for migrant politics in times of austerity, and increased surveillance and racism against migrants. Despite its limited and temporary success, the event demonstrates how a politics of equality, ethical openness and respect for human life can form the basis of true cosmopolitan universality. The event also demonstrates how cosmopolitan universality is constructed from below by the migrants, who despite their undocumented status, engaged in an act of citizenship to demand equality.     

论哈代小说的历史文化底蕴

19世纪英国小说家哈代赞扬和向往古希腊罗马时代的精神,他的这一思想倾向鲜明地表现在他的小说中游苔莎和淑等重要人物形象的身上,他的小说的故事背景和情节进展与英国古老的历史化有密切的联系。他的小说对基督教化中传统的贞操观念持批评否定态度。他把民俗化与他的小说的内容有机地结合了起来,民俗化现象常常影响到人物的命运甚至生死。     

汉字“戏”、“剧”的形义系统和戏剧文体的美学建构

中国戏剧是市民文化土壤上盛开的璀灿之花 ,有关戏剧的一些美学信息 ,隐含在汉字“戏”、“剧”的形义系统中。通过对“戏”、“剧”二字的形义系统以及戏剧前身发展脉络的描述 ,可以在一定程度上探讨中国戏剧的美学建构 ,及其与古希腊戏剧走上不同关怀之路的本源区别     

Monitoring the rise of a radical force: the British Embassy in Athens and the Ascent of the Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement, 1974–1981*

The article deals with perceptions, conceptions and policy implementation of British diplomacy towards the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) from its formation in 1974 until its first rise into power in 1981. PASOK, a political movement that was to dominate Greek politics for more than twenty years, entered the Greek political scene as a new, radical force that threatened Western values and interests and aspired to reshape the international orientation of the country, in a period of high Cold War tensions. It will be shown that British diplomacy, despite its opposition to PASOK, was forced by political realities to modify its policy significantly, in order to accommodate PASOK and preserve its interests in a country that was considered as a vital ally of the Western world.     

Bypassing a Centralized State: The Case of the Greek Subnational Mobilization in the European Union

For over 25 years successive administrative reforms have taken place in Greece, with a view to modernizing the subnational institutions. The European pressures come across as an influential factor inducing the process of change. But what has been the subnational responsiveness related to the rationalization initiatives? The aim of this paper is to investigate the Greek subnational authorities’ mobilization in the European arena, providing evidence of their bypassing the central state from a multi-level governance perspective. Building on the division between ‘financial' and ‘regulatory' mobilization, empirical data are drawn from the EU's environmental policy financial mechanism and the subnational representation and networking in Brussels. The figures show that only a few Greek subnational authorities financially mobilize; the vast majority show inertia. Moreover, their regulatory mobilization is hardly evident. It is argued that although the EU offers substantial incentives for mobilizing, domestic institutional capacity also accounts for much variation.     

EU Integration and Cultural Diplomacy in Times of Crisis: The Case of Greece

The economic crisis challenges the integration policies of the European Union (EU) and reduces its soft power. Developing from a discussion on cultural values, cultural diplomacy is proposed as a way for the EU and its member states to address the negative effects of the crisis on their soft power and integration process. Cultural values, identity issues, top-down and bottom-up stakeholders, policies, and prospects for cultural diplomacy are explored with a focus on Greece. A proposal based on the balancing of sociocultural with economic principles is presented as a conclusion that would address soft power deficits and further EU integration.     

The Rise of Golden Dawn: The New Face of the Far Right in Greece

The article examines the rise of the one of the most extremist political parties in Europe, Golden Dawn. It sketches the historical trajectory of the Greek far right, examines the ideological, organisational and voter profile of Golden Dawn, and offers possible explanations for its breakthrough in the 2012 elections. The article shows how the economic crisis has brought a massive realignment of the Greek electorate away from mainstream parties, giving rise to anti-system and anti-immigrant sentiments. Golden Dawn's violent tactics have allowed the party to establish an anti-system and anti-immigrant profile and capitalise on these sentiments. The party's future will depend on its capacity to absorb organisationally any future tensions between party pragmatists and idealists.     

GENERAL STRAIN THEORY: ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE USING CROSS‐CULTURAL DATA*

Data from random samples of residents in major cities of Russia, Ukraine, and Greece are employed to test hypotheses about linkages among objective strain, subjective strain, anger, and criminal probability specified in general strain theory (GST). In addition, the potential conditioning effects of religiosity and self‐control on the strain/criminal probability relationship are investigated. Results show more challenge than support for GST. In particular, all supportive results are for the Ukrainian sample with the Greek and Russian samples providing little confirmation to the study's hypotheses. Although analyses show some support for the basic premises of GST, using a measure of subjective strain does not improve results, and self‐control and religiosity do not seem to condition the effects of strain on criminal probability. Overall, the findings point to contextual specificity of GST as currently formulated and suggest the need for further theorizing.     

Sexual Dimorphism of the Humerus in Contemporary Cretans—A Population‐Specific Study and a Review of the Literature*

Abstract: Sex determination is the first essential step for positive identification when a decomposed body is recovered. Taking into consideration the population aspect of sexual dimorphism of the skeleton, the present study aimed to create a sex identification technique using osteometric standards, derived from a contemporary Cretan population. A total of 168 left humeri were measured according to standard osteometric techniques. The differences between the means in males and females were significant (p < 0.0005). About 92.3% of cases were correctly classified when all measurements were applied jointly. Stepwise procedure produced an accuracy rate of 92.9%. The most effective single dimension was vertical head diameter (89.9%). The current study provides standards for a population that has not been represented so far in the existing databases. It demonstrates that the humerus is an effective bone for the estimation of sex because even in a fragmentary state it can give high classification accuracy.