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The “April” Dictatorship’s Policy in Universities and Students’ Activism and Resistance against the Dictatorship, in Greece

Publication date: 21.11.2024

Central European and Balkan Studies, 2024, Volume XXXIII, pp. 307 - 328

https://doi.org/10.4467/2543733XSSB.24.017.20041

Authors

,
Nikos Papadakis
University of Crete, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3640-1768 Orcid
All publications →
Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis
University of Crete, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-8991 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

The “April” Dictatorship’s Policy in Universities and Students’ Activism and Resistance against the Dictatorship, in Greece

Abstract

This paper analyzes the main components, ideological features and practices that constitute the (overall) educational and specifically, the higher education policy of the April Dictatorship in Greece (19671974).

The analysis of the relevant research material shows that this policy was characterized by:

the intention to redefine the relations of the Universities with the (occupied) State, the coordinated effort to insert specific ideological authoritarian interpretations in the discourses and policies for higher education and consequently, in the reform efforts of the Dictatorship,

the institutionalization of a new economy of power based on control technologies which favored the formation of (ideologically over-determined) discipline and extended state intervention into every aspect of the Higher Education Institutions,

the construction of a surveillance, punishment, control and discipline framework, strictly demarcated and authoritarian.

Simultaneously, the above-mentioned policy aimed a) at the extensive criminalization of behavior, as well as of the non-nationalistic and ideologically un-orthodox thinking in universities and in other Educational Institutions, b) at the reduction of any degree of teaching staff and students autonomy, and c) at the promotion of some alleged- ostensible, seemingly liberal, measures and proposals. The ultimate objective was both these specific measures and the overall (authoritarian) higher education policy to become feasible (legitimizing-permissible strategy) and subsequently implemented.

In addition, students (persistent, influential and multi-level) resistance (at the level of both discourse and political action) to the higher education reforms attempted by the April Dictatorship, as well as against the Dictatorship per se and subsequently against the state and constitutional infringement, will be also analytically examined and contextualized.

References

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Information

Information: Central European and Balkan Studies, 2024, Volume XXXIII, pp. 307 - 328

Article type: Original article

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3640-1768

Nikos Papadakis
University of Crete, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3640-1768 Orcid
All publications →

University of Crete, Greece

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-8991

Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis
University of Crete, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-8991 Orcid
All publications →

University of Crete, Greece

Published at: 21.11.2024

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Nikos Papadakis (Author) - 50%
Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis (Author) - 50%

Information about author:

Nikos Papadakis, Professor and Director of the Centre for Political Research & Documentation (KEPET/ UCRC), Department of Political Science, University of Crete. Member of the Scientific Board of the National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government (EKDDA ). Distinguished Visiting Professor at the AG EP of the Zhengzhou University (ZZ U), China. Dept of Political Science, Gallos University Campus, Rethymnon, GR- 74 100, GREECE.

Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis, Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University. Field Manager of the Centre for Political Research & Documentation (KEPET/UCRC), General Secretary of the Hellenic Association of Political Scientists (HAPSc). Member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR Political Culture Standing Group. KEPET/UCRC, Gallos University Campus, Rethymnon, GR- 74 100, GREECE

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