The Sunday, June 23 broadcast of Aris Portosalte’s European history radio documentary series focused on the legacy of the French Revolution on French society, the restoration of the monarchy, authoritarianism, and the influence of the American Revolution in relation to democracy and individual freedoms.

With Mr. Paschalis Kitromelidis as a guest, they started the show talking about the important legacy of the French Revolution which opened the way, not only in France but also in the rest of Europe for entering the great era of changes of the 19th century. An era of freedom and progress but at the same time an era in which many problems will appear, mainly the widening inequalities in the advanced societies of the Western world. For the evaluation of the French Revolution, they chose to focus on the analysis of the French politician and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, a representative of political liberalism.

A comparative analysis of the democratic experience in France and America was made and threats to freedom were analyzed. In addition they talked about the European liberals of Tocqueville’s time in relation to the Americans through his work. Tocqueville’s ideas resonated throughout Europe, including Greece. His most important work entitled “On democracy in America” ​​was translated by Constantinos Heraklides in 1846 and influenced the climate of liberal criticism against Otto’s monarchy, which eventually contributed to the change of state in 1862.

Listen to the historical radio documentary “Knowing the European history” of SKAI 100.3, every Sunday at 9 am.

The scientific editor is Mr. Paschalis Kitromelidis, professor emeritus of Political Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and holder of the Chair of History of Political Ideas at the Academy of Athens.

You can listen to the show in detail below

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To find the entire archive of the shows click here