Xenocracy

State, Class, and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864

Sakis Gekas

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781805391272, 9781785332616
• eBook ISBN: 9781785332623
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Of the many European territorial reconfigurations that followed the wars of the early nineteenth century, the Ionian State remains among the least understood. Xenocracy offers a much-needed account of the region during its half-century as a Protectorate of Great Britain – a period that embodied all of the contradictions of British colonialism. A middle class of merchants, lawyers and state officials embraced and promoted a liberal modernization project. Yet despite the improvements experienced by many Ionians, the deterioration of state finances led to divisions along class lines and presented a significant threat to social stability. Sakis Gekas shows that the impasse engendered de- pendency upon and ambivalence toward Western Europe, anticipating the 'neocolonial' condition with which the Greek nation struggles even today.

Table of contents

• Xenocracy
• Table of Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The First Greek State and the Origins of Colonial Governmentality
• Chapter 2 Building the Colonial State
• Chapter 3 Law, Colonialism and State Formation
• Chapter 4 Colonial Knowledge and the Making of Ionian Governmentality
• Chapter 5 ‘A True and Hateful Monopoly’
• Chapter 6 State Finances and the Cost of Protection
• Chapter 7 Building a Modern State
• Chapter 8 ‘Progress’
• Chapter 9 Poverty, the State and the Middle Class
• Chapter 10 The Literati and the Liberali
• Conclusion 1864: The End of Colonial Rule?
• Bibliography
• Index