Dr Michalis Sotiropoulos (MA, D.E.A., PhD, FRHistS)

Lecturer in Modern Greek Studies

Biography

Background

I was born and raised in Athens, Greece, where I studied Political Science at the University of Athens. It was during my time there that I developed a deep interest in history. This naturally led me to pursue further studies in history, first completing an MA at the University of York, and then a DEA at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, where I also began my doctoral studies under the guidance of the late Georges B. Dertilis.

After completing my military service, and driven by my interest in intellectual history, I moved to London, where I was awarded a PhD in History from Queen Mary, University of London. Following a brief period working at the Hellenic Parliament, I held research and teaching positions at several institutions including Princeton University, the University of Athens, the University of Thrace, the Research Center for the Humanities in Athens, and the British School at Athens. During my three years at the latter, I led a research project on British Philhellenism during the Greek Revolution of 1821. I joined the University of Edinburgh in October 2024.

My research focuses on what Franco Venturi described as a "political history of ideas" with an emphasis on the history of the modern Greek world, the Age of Revolutions, and more generally the Mediterranean during the 18th and 19th centuries. I have published extensively on these themes, while my recent book, Liberalism after the Revolution: The Intellectual Foundations of the Greek State, c. 1830–1880 (Cambridge University Press, 2023), was awarded the 2024 Edmund Keeley Book Prize by the Modern Greek Studies Association.

I welcome inquiries from postgraduates interested in global, comparative, and intellectual approaches to the history of the Greek world from the fall of Byzantium to the 20th century.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Fellow, Royal Historical Society

Member of the Committee for Society, Arts, and Letters, British School at Athens

Associate member, Laboratory for Political and Institutional Theory and the History of Ideas, University of Athens

Undergraduate teaching

Honours

Year 3: HIST10520 After Byzantium: An Intellectual History of the Greek world, 15th-19th c. (Course Organiser)

Pre-honours

Year 2: HIST08043 Themes in Modern European History (lecturing team, and tutor)

Postgraduate teaching

Postgraduate teaching

PGHC11378 Historical Research: Skills & Sources (Pathway Organiser)

PGHC11335 Historical Methodology (Pathway Organiser)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome enquiries from postgraduates who want to work on global, comparative, and intellectual approaches to the history of the Greek world after the fall of Byzantium and up to the 20th century 

Research summary

My work is focused in two key areas. One concentrates on the intellectual processes that underpinned the formation of the Greek state from the 1830s through the end of the century. The key example of this focus is my monograph Liberalism after the Revolution: The Intellectual foundations of the Greek state c. 1830-1880 that was published in 2023 by Cambridge University Press (“Ideas in Context” series), and received the Edmund Keeley Book prize of the Modern Greek Studies Association (US). By exploring how visions of law impacted politics and the formation of the state in Greece after independence from the Ottomans, the book offers a challenging perspective on nineteenth-century liberalism and on European intellectual history more generally. My other research focus is on the Greek world during Age of Revolutions; in particular on political languages circulating during this time, and the role they played in the outbreak and subsequent course of the Greek Revolution.

Current research interests

My most recent work focuses on Philhellenism, which I also explore from transnational and global perspectives. I am currently editing a volume, forthcoming with Routledge, titled Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution of 1821: Towards a Global History, which adopts global approaches to explore themes such as the relationship between philhellenism and race, empire, modern political and historical thought, and new techniques of governance.

Knowledge exchange

Publications in English

Books:

Liberalism after the Revolution: The Intellectual foundations of the Greek state c. 1830-1880 (Cambridge University Press, 2023), MGSA Edmund Keeley Book Prize 2024

Edited books:

Philhellenism and the Greek Revolution of 1821: Towards a Global History  (Routledge, forthcoming, 2025)

Articles/chapters in edited books:

‘George Finlay and the Greek Revolution of 1821: The Scottish Enlightenment and transnational liberalism in revolutionary Europe’, in Roderick Beaton and Neils Gael, (eds), The Greek Revolution of 1821: Contexts, Scottish Connections, the Classical Tradition (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming, 2024)

‘1821 and Philhellenism’ in Véronique Chankowski, Gilles Grivaud, Kostas Vlassopoulos, Antonia Kiousopoulou, Marinos Sariyannis, Angelos Dalachanis, Efi Gazi (eds.), Παγκόσμια Ιστορία της Ελλάδος – Histoire Mondiale de la Grèce – Global History of Greece (PEK, Peeters McGill-Queen’s University Press, forthcoming, 2025)

Guest editor (with A. Dialla and A. Hadjikyriacou), ‘Where was 1821? Space and territory in the Greek Revolution’, Historein, special issue, 22/2, 2023

Introduction (with A. Dialla and A. Hadjikyriacou), ‘Where was 1821? Space and territory in the Greek Revolution’, Historein, special issue, 22/2, 2023

‘The transnational foundations of the Greek revolution of 1821’, in Y. Cartledge and A. Varnava (eds), New Perspectives on the Greek War of Independence 200 Years on: Myths, Realities, Legacies and Reflections (London: Palgrave, forthcoming, 2021)

‘“United we stand, divided we fall”: sovereignty and government during the Greek revolution (1821-28)’, Historein, special issue, 20/1, 2021, edited by Y. Kotsoni and A. Dialla (forthcoming).

‘Liberalism, property, and the foundations of the Greek state (ca. 1830-1870)’, Modern Intellectual History, 1-22, 2019, doi:10.1017/S1479244319000210

'Patris, ethnos, and demos: representation and political organization in the Greek world, 1750-1860’ (with A. Hadjikyriacou) in J. Innes, M. Philp (eds), Re-imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1750-1860 (Oxford University Press, 2018).

 

Publications in languages other than English

Articles/Chapters in edited books (selection):

(in Portuguese) ‘Grécia’, in J. L. Cardoso, R. Ramos, N. Monteiro and I. Corrêa da Silva (eds), Dicionário Critico da Revolução Liberal Portuguesa, 1820-1834 (Lisboa: Dom Quixote, forthcoming, 2024)

(in Greek) ‘The declaration of the Second National Assembly of Astros (1823)’, in Smaragdi Arvaniti (ed.), [The Second National Assembly in Astros: events, protagonists, decisions, and its impact] (Athens: Hellenic Parliament, 2023)

(in Greek) ‘The Age of Consent: The recent historiography of the Greek Revolution of 1821’ (with Sakis Gekas, and Antonis Hadjikyriacou, Τα Ιστορικά [Ta Istorika], 75 (2022), pp.

(in Greek) The Greek Revolution in history: Past, present, and future of the historiography of 1821, digital book (Athens, Research Center for the Humanities, 2021)

(in Greek) ‘”Walking backwards into battle”: The political concepts of 1821 and the Age of Revolutions’ (with A. Hadjikyriacou), Μνήμων, 38 (2021), 77-109 [turkish translation in K. Andrianopoulou και A. Vakali (eds), On the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution of March 1821: new perspectives from Greek historiography [in Turkish] (Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2021)]

Affiliated research centres

Project activity

I have led three research projects as a PI:

  • ‘Unpublished Archives of British Philhellenism during the Greek Revolution of 1821’, British School at Athens, 2021-24 supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, https://www.bsa.ac.uk/research-2/britishphilhellenism/
  • ‘The intellectual foundations of the modern Greek state’, 2020-2021, Department of History and Philosophy of Sciences, University of Athens, supported by the (Greek) States Scholarships Foundation, 2020-21
  • ‘Greek liberalism in a comparative perspective’, Research Center for the Humanities, Athens, Greece, 2017-18

I have also been involved in tree other research projects:

  • ‘One documentary, many histories’, funded by the Eleusis Cultural Capital of Europe, 2023-24
  • '1821-in-print', Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI), 2023-25
  • ‘The Greek Revolution in the Press’, Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, 2021
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