Add to wishlist
The long history of Anglo–Greek relations has deservedly attracted much attention. One of its most controversial — yet least explored — phases was that spanning the Greek Colonels’ seven-year military junta, from 1967-74. Drawing on a corpus of diverse, original and largely primary material, Maragkou provides a comprehensive analysis of British policy towards Greece during this tumultuous era. Not only does she contribute to the historiography of Anglo–Greek relations, but her book also serves as a case study of British foreign policy within the Cold War. And by demonstrating that national history can be best understood by analysing the relationship between a nation state and factors beyond its control, the conclusions drawn can be applied beyond the strictly regional or the exclusively bilateral, as they also fit into a transnational paradigm. It was in the 1960s when what we now term ‘globalisation’ was in full swing. Henceforward, no nation — and no foreign office — was an island: it was part of a whole, in which both state and non-state actors internationally played their part in the evolution of thinking on foreign affairs. Here is the key to understanding the tortuous history of Britain and the Greek Colonels — one that has many echoes in our own time.
Introduction
1. From ‘Extreme Reserve’ to ‘Business as Usual’
2. From ‘Wrestling with the Question of Recognition’ to ‘Worthy Competitors of Judas Iscariot’
3. From ‘Low ebb’, Back to Normal, and then to the ‘Lowest ebb’
4. ‘A Series of Shifts and Jolts, with Occasional Sunny Intervals’
5. From ‘Unwarranted Expectations of Greater Sympathy’ to ‘Satisfactory’ Relations
6. ‘A Policy of “Doing Good by Stealth”’
7. From ‘Business as Usual’ to ‘Developing Good and Constructive Relations’
8. From a ‘Good Working Relationship’ to a ‘Proper Working Relationship’
Description
The long history of Anglo–Greek relations has deservedly attracted much attention. One of its most controversial — yet least explored — phases was that spanning the Greek Colonels’ seven-year military junta, from 1967-74. Drawing on a corpus of diverse, original and largely primary material, Maragkou provides a comprehensive analysis of British policy towards Greece during this tumultuous era. Not only does she contribute to the historiography of Anglo–Greek relations, but her book also serves as a case study of British foreign policy within the Cold War. And by demonstrating that national history can be best understood by analysing the relationship between a nation state and factors beyond its control, the conclusions drawn can be applied beyond the strictly regional or the exclusively bilateral, as they also fit into a transnational paradigm. It was in the 1960s when what we now term ‘globalisation’ was in full swing. Henceforward, no nation — and no foreign office — was an island: it was part of a whole, in which both state and non-state actors internationally played their part in the evolution of thinking on foreign affairs. Here is the key to understanding the tortuous history of Britain and the Greek Colonels — one that has many echoes in our own time.
