(Mis)understanding the Balkans: Greek Geopolitical Codes of the Post-communist Era

Abstract

For most Greeks, neighbouring countries like Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania formed a terra incognita for almost half a century since the end of the Second World War. In the early 1990s communism collapsed in all four countries and despite the three bloody wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia, information, goods and people crossed Balkan boundaries in unprecedented speed. The paper examines three geopolitical codes about the Balkans that successively dominated Greek views and policies in the last fifteen years: the idea of a menacing ‘muslim arc’, the image of the Balkans as a Greek ‘natural hinterland’ and the idea of the Balkans as an undisputed part of Europe. All these geopolitical ideas were introduced by the Greek political elite and influenced decisively both Greek foreign policy and public attitudes for about half a decade each.

Notes

1. Quoted in K. Nicolaidis, ‘Introduction’, in G. T. Allison and K. Nicolaidis (eds.), The Greek Paradox (Boston: The MIT Press 1997) p. 7.

2. J. Goldstein and R. O. Keohane, ‘Ideas and Foreign Policy: An Analytical Framework’, in J. Goldstein and R. O. Keohane (eds.), Ideas and Foreign Policy. Beliefs,Institutions and Political Change (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1993) pp. 3–30.

3. J. L. Gaddis, Strategies of Containment (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1982).

4. P. Taylor and C. R. Flint, Political Geography: World System, Nation-State and Locality (New York: Prentice Hall 2000) pp. 90–91.

5. T. Luke and G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Global Flowmations, Local Fundamentalisms and Fast Geopolitics: “America” in an Accelerating World Order’, in A. Herod, G. Ó Tuathail and S. Roberts (eds.), An Unruly World ? Globalization, Governance and Geography (London: Routledge 1998) pp. 72–94.

6. Taylor and Flint (note 4) p. 91.

7. G. J. Dijkink, National Identity and Geopolitical Visions: Maps of Pride and Pain (London: Routledge 1996) p. 11.

8. Ibid. p. 14.

9. Ibid. p. 7.

10. V. Kolossov, ‘“High” and “Low” Geopolitics: Images of Foreign Countries in the Eyes of Russian Citizens’, Geopolitics 8/1 (2003) p. 125.

11. G. Dijkink, ‘Geopolitical Codes and Popular Representations’, Geojournal 46 (1998) p. 294.

12. Dijkink claims that change in geopolitical codes ‘should be one of the central themes of research in geopolitical representations’ (Ibid. p. 293). And indeed there is a growing literature on geopolitical images. See for example K. Dodds and D. Atkinson, Geopolitical Traditions: A Century of Geopolitical Change (London: Routledge 2000).

13. Dijkink (note 7) p. 141.

14. G. Parker, Geopolitics: Past, Present and Future (London: Pinter 1998) p. 66.

15. H. Sprout and M. Sprout, ‘Environmental Factors in the Study of International Politics’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 1(4) (1957) pp. 309–328.

16. See among others, A. George, ‘The “Operational Code”: A Neglected Approach to the Study of Political Leaders and Decision Making’, International Studies Quarterly 13(2) (1969) pp. 190–222; A. George, S. Walker, M. Schafer and M. Young, ‘Presidential Operational Codes and Foreign Policy Conflicts in the Post-Cold War World’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 43(4) (1998) pp. 610–625; R.-K. Herrmann, ‘The Empirical Challenge of the Cognitive Revolution: A Strategy for Drawing Inferences about Perceptions’, International Studies Quarterly 32(2) (1988) pp. 175–204; O.-R. Holsti, ‘Foreign Policy Formation Viewed Cognitively’, in R.-M. Axelrod, Structure of Decision (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1976); Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1976).

17. P. C. Ioakimides, ‘The Model of Foreign Policy-Making in Greece: Personalities Vs Institutions’, in S. Stavridis, Th. Couloumbis, Th. Veremis and N. Waites (eds.), The Foreign Policies of the European Union's Mediterranean States and Applicant Countries in the 1990s (London: Macmillan 1999) pp. 140–170.

18. D. Keridis, ‘Greek Foreign Policy After “Macedonia”’, Emphasis, A Journal of Hellenic Issues 1 (1995) p. 3, http://www.hri.org/emphasis/is1–3.html(accessed 6/12/05)

19. M. Mazower, The Balkans (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2000) p. 4.

20. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Understanding Critical Geopolitics: Geopolitics and Risk Society’, in C. S. Gray and G. Sloan (eds.), Geopolitics, Geography and Strategy (London: Frank Cass 2001) p. 115.

21. J. Der Derian, ‘S/N: International Theory, Balkanisation and the New World Order’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies 20(3) (1991) p. 488.

22. An example is the book of the American journalist Robert Kaplan, Balkan Ghosts (New York: Vintage 1994). It was reported that the book influenced President Clinton's policy in the Balkans.

23. Mazower (note 19) p. 5.

24. S. Wagstyl and S. Fidler, ‘Under the Volcano’, Financial Times (28 June 1999).

25. M. Todorova, Imagining the Balkans (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997).

26. For very interesting but more cultural than political research see D. Tziovas (ed.), Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment (Ashgate: Aldershot 2003).

27. A. Nicolson, ‘A Fall from Cultural Grace’, The Spectator (12 November 1993).

28. This mentality in the early 1990s reached a dangerous peak when a group of politicians across the political spectrum apparently decided to invest heavily in nationalist shares. See L. Tsoukalis, ‘The Future of Greece in the European Union’, in T. Couloumbis, T. Kariotis and F. Bellou (eds.), Greece in the Twentieth Century (London: Frank Cass 2003) p. 328.

29. T. Michas, Unholy Alliance. Greece and Milocevic's Serbia (Austin: Texas A&M University Press 2000) p. 32.

30. T. Veremis, ‘Greece: The Dilemmas of Change’, in F. S. Larrabee (ed.), The Volatile Powder Keg: Balkan Security after the Cold War (New York: Rowman & Littlefield 1994) p. 132.

31. P. Vasilopoulos, ‘Samaras’ Conjecture and Islam’, O Oikonomikos 14 (6 September 1990) (in Greek).

32. I Kathimerini (2 September 1990) (in Greek).

33. Quoted in ‘O Fovos tou Islam’, Eleftherotypia (21 January 1996) (in Greek), (accessed 7/2/05) http://www.Iospress.gr/ios1996/iis19960121a.htm

34. For a comment see ‘Balkan Powder Keg’, Editorial, The Toronto Star (6 September 1993).

35. G. Kassimeris, ‘Can He Make Spring a Party for All Seasons?’, The European (16–19 September 1993). For the role of the Orthodox Church in Greek politics see V. Georgiadou, ‘Greek Orthodoxy and the Politics of Nationalism’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 9/2 (1995) pp. 295–315; T. Lipowatz, ‘Orthodox Christianity and Nationalism: Two aspects of the Modern Greek Political Culture’, Greek Political Science Review 2 (1993) pp. 31–47 (in Greek); Th. Stavrou, ‘The Orthodox Church and Political Culture in Modern Greece’, in D. Constas and T. Stavrou (eds.), Greece Prepares for the Twenty-First Century (Washington DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center/The Johns Hopkins University Press 1995) pp. 35–56.

36. N. Zahariadis, ‘Nationalism and Small State Foreign Policy: The Greek Response to the Macedonian Issue’, Political Science Quarterly 109/4 (1994) pp. 647–668; D. M. Perry, ‘Crisis in the Making? Macedonia and Its Neighbours’, Südosteuropa 43/1–2 (1994) pp. 31–58.

37. Michas (note 29).

38. D. Constas and Ch. Papasotiriou, ‘Greek Policy Responses to the Post-Cold War Balkan Environment’, in V. Coufoudakis, H. J. Psomiades and A. Gerolymatos (eds.), Greece and the New Balkans (New York: Pella 1999) p. 231.

39. S. Kut, ‘Turkey in the Post-Communist Balkans: Between Activism and Self-Restraint’, Turkish Review of Balkan Studies 3 (1996/7) pp. 43–45.

40. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Theorizing Practical Geopolitical Reasoning: The Case of the United States’ Response to the War in Bosnia’, Political Geography 21/5 (2002) p. 619.

41. S. Christodoulos ‘The Axis of Orthodoxy Command of the Era … Is Moving’, To Vima tis Kyriakis (9 February 1992) (in Greek).

42. MRB, Six-month Report, Athens: MRB (June 2005) Tables X, ‘Images of Greek Public Figures: Archbishop Christodoulos’, p. 78.

43. G. Mavrogordatos, ‘Orthodoxy and Nationalism in the Greek Church’ in J. T. S. Madeley and Z. Enyedi (eds.), Church and State in Contemporary Europe (London: Frank Cass 2003) p. 130.

44. G. Ó Tuathail and J. Agnew, ‘Geopolitics and Discourse: Practical Geopolitical Reasoning in American Foreign Policy’, Political Geography 11/2 (1992) pp. 190–204.

45. Speech in Patras, Greece, (10 May 1996), (accessed 6/17/05) http://www.garsenis.gr/content/03/03c/04/10_5_1996n.htm

46. ‘Greek companies find a regional strength in Balkan businesses’, I Kathimerini (English edition) (14 September 1998).

47. P. C. Ioakimides, ‘Greece, the European Union and the Balkans in Post-Cold War Era’, in Coufoudakis, Psomiades and Gerolymatos (note 38) p. 181.

48. For a critical view of the first years see A. Kazamias, ‘The Quest for Modernization in Greek Foreign Policy and Its Limitations’, Mediterranean Politics 2/2 (1997) pp. 71–94.

49. Ch. Tsardanidis, ‘Un acteur-clé dans la région de la Grèce’, Le Courrier des Pays de l’Est 1008 (2000) p. 55.

50. 22 May 1999 (quoted in D. Hormovitis, V. Sirinidou and D. Anagnostou, ‘Stereotypes of Domestic Minorities and Neighbouring Peoples in the Greek Press’ (April–December 1999) p. 18, (accessed 5/21/05) http://www.Vlachofiles.net/gr-press99.htm

51. Ibid.

52. Greek Parliament Minutes, ‘Discussion for the Greek Plan for the Reconstruction of the Balkans’ (13 March 2002).

53. A.-S. Wallden, ‘Greece and the Balkans: Economic Relations’, in Ach. Mitsos and El. Mossialos (eds.), Contemporary Greece and Europe (Ashgate: Aldershot 2000) p. 439.

54. K. Hope, ‘EU Outpost Looks Closer to Home’, Financial Times, Survey: ‘Greece and South-east Europe’ (1 June 1998).

55. L. Labrianidis, ‘Are Greek Companies that Invest in the Balkans in the 1990s Transnational Companies?’ in Mitsos and Mossialos (note 53) p. 479.

56. L. Labrianidis, ‘The Opening of the Balkan Markets and Consequent Economic Problems in Greece’, Modern Greek Studies Yearbook 12 (1996) pp. 211–235; L. Labrianidis, ‘The Reconstruction of the Balkans and the Role of Greece: A Critical Approach’, in G. Petrakos (ed.), The Development of the Balkans, (Volos: University of Thessaly Press 2001) pp. 371–396 (in Greek).

57. K. Ifantis, ‘Perception and Rapprochement. Debating a Greek strategy towards Turkey’, in M. Aydin and K. Ifantis (eds.), Turkish- Greek Relations: The Security Dilemma in the Agean (London: Routledge 2004) p. 249.

58. The inceased interpenetration of state and society and the shifts, and political fusion, in public-private boundaries have resulted, as Orazio Lanza and Kostas Lavdas remark, in a new politicisation of organised interests. This interpenetration takes place not only in the domestic arena but refers also to the priorities of Greek investments abroad and more particularly in the Balkan countries. See O. Lanza and K. Lavdas, ‘The Disentanglement of Interest Politics: Business Associability, the Parties and Policy in Italy and Greece’, European Journal of Political Research 37/2 (2000) p. 227.

59. Ch. Tsardanidis, ‘Economic Dipomacy as a Means of Foreign Policy: Greece and South-Eastern Europe’, Agora without Frontiers 6(3) (2001) p. 322 (in Greek).

60. Speech by Deputy Minister of National Economy Yannis Zafeiropoulos, 8^th Annual Forum of Thesaloniki (unpublished paper 2 April 2001) p. 10.

61. W. van Meurs and A. Yannis, The European Union and the Balkans. From Stabilisation Process to Southeastern Enlargement (Munich: Center for Applied Policy Research, University of Munich September 2002) p. 8, (accessed 3/18/05) http://www.cap.uni-muenchen.de/download/2002/2002_EU_Balkans.pdf

62. D. Kavakas, ‘Greece’, in I. Manners and R. Whitman, (eds.), The Foreign Policies of European Union Member States (Manchester: Manchester University Press 2000) p. 148.

63. I. Lasser, F. S. Larrabee, M. Zanini and K. Vlachos, Greece's New Geopolitics (Santa Monica: Rand Corporation 2001) p. 36, (accessed 3/8/05) http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-mkorder.pl?$15,,,MR-1393-KF,,,Greece's+New+Geopolitics,,,1

64. Theodore Couloumbis suggests a distinction between the ‘multiteralist’ orientation which tends to be Eurocentric and the ‘uniliteralist’ which tends toward enthnocentricity. The former emphasises economic and political variables in addition to military ones. The latter recommends reliance on power-military alone. See Th. Couloumbis, ‘Greek Foreign Policy since 1974: Theory and Praxis’, Hellenic Studies 5(2) (1997) pp. 49–63.

65. Kazamias (note 48) p. 89.

66. Ch. Tsardanidis and S. Stavridis, The Europeanisation of Greek Foreign Policy. Paper presented to the University of Crete's Conference on Thirty Years of Democracy – The System of the Third Greek Republic, 1974–2004, Rethimno (20–22 May 2004) p. 24 (in Greek), and Ch. Tsardanidis and S. Stravridis, “The Europeanisation of Greek Foreign Policy: A Critical Appraisal, Journal of European Integration, 27(2), (2005) pp. 231–232.

67. M. Kondopoulou, ‘The Greek Media and the Kosovo Crisis’, Conflict and Communication Online 1 (2002), (accessed 3/10/05) http://www.cco.regener-online.de

68. See K. Brown and D. Theodossopoulos, ‘Rearranging Solidarity: Conspiracy and World Order in Greek and Macedonian Commentaries on Kosovo’, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 5/4 (December 2003) pp. 315–335.

69. Y. Loulis, The Crisis of Politics in Greece (Athens: I. Sideris 1995) (in Greek).

70. G. Prevelakis, ‘The Return of the Macedonian Question’, in F. W. Carter and H. T. Norris (eds.), The Changing Shape of the Balkans (London: UCL Press 1996) p. 143.

71. Ibid. p. 144.

72. Quoted in Ioakimides (note 47) p. 178.

73. ‘Elsewhere in the Balkans’, The Economist (17 September 1994).

74. See, among others, Th. Veremis and Th. Couloumbis, ‘In Search of New Barbarians: Samuel P. Huntington and the Clash of Civilizations’, Mediterranean Quarterly 5(1) (1994) pp. 36–44.

75. G. Prevelakis, ‘The Hellenisation of the Balkans or the balkanization of Greece ?’ in S. Gerassimou (ed.), Balkans Coming Back (Athens: Agra Editions 2003) p. 158 (in Greek).

76. A. Tziampiris, ‘Greece and the Balkans in the Twentieth Century’ in Couloumbis, Kariotis and Bellou (note 28) p. 147.

77. Dijkink (note 7) p. 12.