Prehistory of populist constitutionalism: Difference between revisions

It has been rightly observed that Greece "''has been recurrently susceptible to populist appeals, the figures of Eleftherios Venizelos and Andreas Papandreou towering over twentieth-century Greek history''".<ref>Paul Kenny, ''Why Populism?: Political Strategy from Ancient Greece to the Present'', Cambridge University Press, 2023, p. 187.</ref> Venizelos' statesmanship "''could by no stretch of the imagination be equated with the attitude and mentality of latter-day populist politicians''"; however, these politicians "''appear similarly consumed by politics, but lack Venizelos' moral understanding of the character of public life''".<ref>Paschalis M. Kitromilides, ''Venizelos' Intellectual Projects and Cultural Interests'', in Paschalis M. Kitromilides, ''Eleftherios Venizelos: The Trials of Statesmanship'', Edinburgh University Press, 2006, p. 377.</ref> In this vein, Venizelos can be understoodseen as a principled populist, i.e. as a man who understands that politics is the realm of opinion and not of truth.<ref>Cf. Arendt</ref>.

<blockquote>[Ε]ίναιἶναι αίρεσιςαἵρεσις νανὰ λέτε μέσα ειςεἰς έναἕνα ΠολιτικόνΠολιτικὸν ΣώμαΣῶμα ότιὅτι οὁ καθηγητήςκαθηγητὴς τουτοῦ Πανεπιστημίου ημπορείἠμπορεῖ νανὰ έχηἔχῃ τηντὴν εγκυροτέρανἐγκυροτέραν γνώμην ειςεἰς έναἕνα ζήτημα απόἀπὸ όλουςὅλους.<ref>.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>ΘαΘὰ εκύτταζαἐκύτταζα [...] νανὰ καταργήσω τηντὴν έδρανἕδραν τουτοῦ ΣυνταγματικούΣυνταγματικοῦ Δικαίου διαδιὰ νανὰ αποτρέψωἀποτρέψω τοντὸν κίνδυνον [...] νανὰ εξαρτάταιἐξαρτᾶται ηἡ πολιτικήπολιτικὴ ζωήζωὴ τηςτῆς Χώρας απόἀπὸ τηντὴν γνώμην ενόςἑνὸς καθηγητούκαθηγητοῦ, σοφούσοφοῦ όσονὅσον θέλετε.<ref>.</ref></blockquote>