The struggle between tradition and modernity and the constitution under the Greek revolutionary ‘state’

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This research constitutes a first attempt to promote an “encounter” between the contemporary trends in Greek historiography and sociology on the subject of the Greek Revolution and the “classic” constitutional history of the period. It attempts to bring to light aspects of the early Greek state (administration, education, church) through the prism of the constitution. It makes methodological use of the “tradition-modernity” antithesis to provide a different interpretation of the prevailing revolutionary ideas in the fields of institutional-constitutional practices and legal discourse. On an initial level, it examines the representations on the issue of constitutional organisation, i.e. the governing institutions of revolutionary Greece, as well as the way in which this constitutional framework operates. It also provides a picture of the synthesis of tradition and modernity, mainly in terms of the practices employed in the appointment of representatives to the national assemblies, the views on the “infringement” of constitutional rules, and the different perceptions of the “nation” in the formulation of revolutionary discourse.
On a second level, it examines how the formation of a Greek “national” identity permeates, as an ideology, formal education through the promotion of a new education system that is linked with the vision of a regenerated Greece. It also aims to highlight how the struggle between modern educational currents and spiritual forces adhering to an Orthodox Christian tradition has a decisive effect on the relationship between state and church.

(Edited and translated description from organiser”s website)