“Who is the Greek citizen?’’ is par excellence an open question.  A question that has been giving ground to semantic contradictions and different political apprehending, stimulating – in turn – further questions: Which are the criteria that have been used to define “who is the Greek citizen?” during the last two centuries since the emergence of the modern Greek nation-state in 1821 and until today? Have those criteria been stable in time or shifting? And if they have been shifting, how often do they change and why? What similar criteria of membership in a political community can they be compared with? Which have been the decisive factors that enabled non-Greeks to become Greek citizens? Who was included in, and who was excluded from such processes of citizenship granting and acquisition? What have been the expectations of the state from its citizens? And to what extend is citizenship overwhelmed with ideology? This book deals with such questions and proposes a short route in the history of the Greek nation through citizenship’s perspective, while pointing out recent challenges. It shows that questions about citizenship resonate with themes and issues beyond the narrow legal bond between state and the individual, and can further our understanding about the community and the polity itself.  ’Who is the Greek citizen?’’ is a question worth to be posed, especially today when the country undergoes a period of extreme uncertainty and political cruelty. A question that, by all means, has had and still has a great impact on the destiny of people with a ‘genuine link’ to Greece; even – or mostly – during the country’s most difficult times.

Publication details and link to source: Dimitris Christopoulos, Vivliorama Pub. Athens, 2012.