Greek elections: how Syriza managed to sign a bailout agreement yet retain its support base

Syriza won the largest share of support in the Greek parliamentary elections on 20 September. Nikoleta Kiapidou gives an overview of the results and the campaign. She argues that three factors were key to Syriza managing to maintain its support: the party successfully presenting itself as a break with the ‘old’ and discredited political system of the past; the image of Syriza as a ‘fighter’ in the country’s negotiations with Europe; and its ability to maintain a pro-European stance while articulating an anti-austerity narrative

This month’s elections will underline the fundamental changes to the Greek party system that have occurred since the crisis

Greece will hold parliamentary elections on 25 January, which were called after the incumbent government, led by Antonis Samaras, failed to elect a new President in December. Nikoleta Kiapidou assesses the lead up to the vote, and the contest between Samaras’ New Democracy and the radical-left Syriza to be the largest party in the Greek parliament. She writes that regardless of which party comes out on top, the elections will underline the fundamental changes to competition within the Greek party system which have occurred since the beginning of the country’s debt crisis

On the epistolography of Michael Glykas

Michael Glykas’ collection of ninety-five letters proves to be a core element of his work, and one that needs to be studied as a whole, in conjunction with his better-known chronicle, so that more light can be shed on the ambiguous data of this scholar’s highly interesting life and thought as well as the literary production of the Byzantine 12th century.Michael Glykas’ collection of ninety-five letters proves to be a core element of his work, and one that needs to be studied as a whole, in conjunction with his better-known chronicle, so that more light can be shed on the ambiguous data of this scholar’s highly interesting life and thought as well as the literary production of the Byzantine 12th century

Chapters, Epistolary Essays and Epistles. The Case of Michael Glykas’ Collection of Ninety-Five Texts in the 12th Century

It is a fact that the variety of terms in use (“chapters”, “epistolary essays”, “epistles” etc.) regarding Michael Glykas’ ninety-five texts of theological content, which have been published by Sophronios Eustratiadis in two volumes under the title Εἰς τὰς ἀπορίας τῆς θείας γραφῆς κεφάλαια, is so wide as to cause wonder as well as confusion regarding their genre. Eustratiadis was the first to consciously introduce the term “chapters” instead of “epistles”, the widely-used term for Glykas’ texts in the various editions and studies, since “the oldest manuscripts as well as Glykas himself name the collection as chapters”.This paper examines thoroughly the accuracy of his statement and shows that the manuscript tradition of the collection does not justify its designation as chapters. On the other hand, when Glykas referred to his texts as chapters, it was during an overall editing not only of the collection of his ninety-five texts but of his overall work (namely his two poems, his proverbs and the collection), when he apparently considered his various texts as units of a single book. Based on these data, even if the term κεφάλαια is maintained in contemporary references to Glykas’ work two points should be made clear at the very beginning: (a) it does not carry any genre content, but instead is of a general use in order to describe texts of various genres, and mainly (b) it concerns more texts than the ninety-five of the collection under discussion here, whose title in any case varies so much in the manuscript tradition that it needs to be re-examined.Moreover, the comparison of Glykas’ collection with other relevant works of the middle Byzantine era, namely the Epistles and the Amphilochia of Photius, the epistles of Nicetas Stethatos and the Ponemata diaphora of Demetrios Chomatenos, lead to the assumption that Glykas’ collection comprise various texts, mostly epistles as well as short theological treatises or notes, which for some reason were incorporated later into the collection on following the same pattern as the epistles

How have European national party systems responded to the Eurozone crisis? A comparison between Germany, the UK, Ireland, and Greece

European national party systems have reflected in different ways the major influence of the Eurozone crisis on individual countries. The focus of my project concerns this exact diversity and the main research question is formed as follows: How have European national party systems responded to the Eurozone crisis? In particular, I looked at the degree of party system fragmentation and polarisation, the degree of salience of the EU issue, and government composition in four European countries: Germany, the UK, Ireland, and Greece, during the years 2008-early 2016. Although the main causal condition of the project is the Eurozone crisis (economic conditions), several cross-case and country-specific intervening factors were examined in order to identify possible reasons behind the responses of national party systems to the crisis. Data were gathered through expert surveys and interviews with experts and political actors. The results showed the new era of the national party systems in Europe, which started in 2008 and transformed massively national politics by revealing the power of combined long-term trends and a sudden turmoil. The changes were of different degrees at the various systems depending on their structural characteristics. Old and new minor parties gained ground in all the four cases by promoting their anti-mainstream profile and by activating a pro-/anti-establishment divide. The results revealed some intriguing patterns in the party system response, among mostly diverse cases and confirmed how domestic conditions and issues had the lead over international events, even if the latter are as significant as the Eurozone crisis. The Eurozone crisis played a massive role in party system structures. Although that was the case mainly with the countries with poor economic performance during the recession years, the crisis had a significant impact on the way parties related and competed in all of the cases, as it exposed underlying transformations and simmering issues in the national party systems. This showed that we need to link short- and long-term transitions with national political structures and international events in order to understand party system change. An underlying establishment/anti-establishment cleavage, which found a channel of expression during the crisis, cut across traditional lines of competition and appeared likely to determine future developments in the national party systems. Finally, the EU issue was operationalised in different ways in each system and by each party, but in any case it needed to be highlighted through the discussions over salient domestic issues

On the epistolography of Michael Glykas

Michael Glykas’ collection of ninety-five letters proves to be a core element of his work, and one that needs to be studied as a whole, in conjunction with his better-known chronicle, so that more light can be shed on the ambiguous data of this scholar’s highly interesting life and thought as well as the literary production of the Byzantine 12th century.Michael Glykas’ collection of ninety-five letters proves to be a core element of his work, and one that needs to be studied as a whole, in conjunction with his better-known chronicle, so that more light can be shed on the ambiguous data of this scholar’s highly interesting life and thought as well as the literary production of the Byzantine 12th century

Herodicus, the father of sports medicine

Herodicus (fifth century bc) is the first person in the history of medicine who actually combined sports with medicine. He used to be a sports teacher, who later studied medicine and managed to succeed Euryphon in the medical school of Cnidos, one of the most prominent in ancient Greece together with its neighbor medical school of Cos (Hippocrates’ home). In Cnidos Herodicus formed his own theoretical perspective of medicine. He considered, namely, bad health to be the result of imbalance between diet and physical activity and for this reason he recommended strict diet, constant physical activity and regular training. He believed that this combination was the ideal way to maintain good standards of health and he applied this type of treatment method to his patients. Unfortunately, Herodicus’ works are lost today. However, excerpts of his medical system, which can be traced in ancient texts, support the fact that Herodicus can be considered as the father of sports medicine