Georgios Giannakopoulos Discusses New Books in Hellenic Studies Talk

On November 17, 2025, the Hellenic Studies Program welcomed Dr. Georgios Giannakopoulos, Associate Professor in Modern History at City St. George’s, University of London, for a discussion on his two newly published books: The Interpreters: British Internationalism and Empire in Southeastern Europe, 1870–1930 (Manchester University Press, 2025), a monograph exploring cultural and intellectual exchanges between Britain and Southeastern Europe during an era of imperial transformation, and The War for Anatolia and the Remaking of International Order: Greece, Turkey, and the End of the First World War (Bloomsbury, 2025), a collective volume that investigates the international, transnational, and economic dimensions of the Greek-Turkish War of 1919–1922.  

In his talk, titled “After Empire: The National Question and the Making of International Order in Southeastern Europe,” Giannakopoulos explained that both books grapple with a common question: How do “local” national issues become international problems of governance? His research, he noted, brings the “national” into the study of international thought, either by studying the actors on the ground or the events that shattered and re-casted international order.  

Some of these actors on the ground were the “interpreters,” namely middlemen who mediated on-the-ground knowledge between Britain and Southeastern Europe. In Britain, these interpreters were regarded as experts on the region’s national questions. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Southeastern Europe was perceived as a laboratory for national questions and imperial solutions, enabling comparisons between Balkan and Irish national issues and offering new perspectives on managing the Irish question.  At the same time, the Greek-Turkish War served as a testing ground for the post-WWI international institutions and contributed to the reconfiguration of international order. It involved, among other developments, the remobilization of the local population over territorial control and the experimentation in population management via forced migration and humanitarian emergencies that led to population engineering and the establishment of more stable borders.  

Dr. Giannakopoulos’s talk came in front a full classroom in Luce Hall. For more information on upcoming Hellenic Studies events, please visit https://macmillan.yale.edu/hellenic.