On Solon and Globalization with Professor George Contogeorgis

Solon (Greek: Σόλων) was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in archaic Athens. After his election as archon, Solon cancelled all debts (seisachtheia), retroactively emancipated debtors, reinstated all confiscated property, and forbade the use of personal freedom as collateral . He instituted a ceiling to maximum property size, meant to prevent excessive accumulation of land by powerful families. Solon legislated for all citizens to be admitted into the assembly (The Ecclesia) and for a supreme court (The Heliaea) with a jury of 6,000 members, and wrote poetry in defense of his reforms. By giving people the power to elect, revoke from office, and call officials to account, Solon is often said to have been the first to lay the foundations of a true democracy. As was typical of the day, Solon was also skilled in the arts of war and successfully led the Athenian forces during the Megarian campaign. Solon was posthumously declared sage, an extremely rare honour.
Globalization is a very recent term, only establishing its current meaning in the 1970s, emerging from the intersection of four interrelated sets of communities of practice; academics, journalists, publishers/editors, and librarians. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of globalization; trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges such as global warming, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment.
George Contogeorgis (Greek: Γεώργιος Κοντογιώργης; born 1947) is a Greek academic. Contogeorgis studied law in Athens and political science in Paris at EHESS and at University of Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2) where he obtained his doctorate. A co-founder of Greek Political Science Association (EEA) and European Political Science Network (EPSNET), Contogeorgis taught at numerous universities including Panteion University in Athens, Aristotle University in Thessalonica, Institute of Political Studies in Paris, University Of Montpellier, as well as Beijing, Tokyo, Quebec, Barcelona, Madrid, and Florence. Contogeorgis served as Rector of Panteion University, Director of Research at CNRS, holder of Francqui pulpit at Université libre de Bruxelles, general manager and president of ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation), and minister in charge of the press and mass media. Contogeorgis is a member of the International Academy of Culture of Portugal (AICP) and on editorial boards of many Greek and international scientific journals. Since 1994, Contogeorgis has been devoted exclusively to his academic activities and publications. Books by Contogeorgis include
(English) Citizen and State: Concept and Typology of Citizenship
(English) The State of Political Science in Western Europe (co-author)
(French) La Théorie des révolutions chez Aristote
(French) De l'Europe politique
(Greek) Κομματοκρατία και δυναστικό κράτος
(Greek) Οι oλιγάρχες
[ This is a short extract from the 2013 Greek TV show Ανιχνεύσεις (Detection) with Παντελής Σαββίδης (Pantelis Savvidis). If you can understand Greek, you may watch a longer excerpt at • Γ. Κοντογιώργης - Δημο... ]