First Public Lectures by Vassilis Petsinis

On November 19, 2015 guest-speaker of Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia in the frame of the project Civic practice for students and teachers. Post 2011 protests, funded by the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 (www.ngogrants.bg) was Vassilis Petsinis who spoke on Russophilia as Component of National Populism in Greece, facilitator was Tom June.

His lecture was focused on the phenomenon of Russophilia in Greece and situates it inside the context of national populism. Numerous political analysts and journalists have not examined Russophilia in Greece as component of a national populism which cuts across the traditional ‘left-right’ spectrum. This research is very topical at a time when Russia emerges as a competitor to the EU and the Kremlin is searching for political allies throughout Central and Southeast Europe. This study demonstrates that the foundations of public Russophilia in Greece are feebler than many external commentators tend to estimate. A rather ahistorical and almost ‘Messianic’ notion of Russophilia interweaves with national populism in the light of the dispute with the EU and Germany over the management of the economic crisis.

You can see photos here.

The Project Civic Practice for Students and Teachers “Post 2011 protests” is funded by the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2009-2014.

www.ngogrants.bg