The first greek modernizer: Just how much of a modernizer was he? The Charilaos Trikoupis case

• Ioannis Papanagiotou ^[1]
  1. [1] National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

     National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

     Dimos Athens, Grecia

     
• Localización: Essays in economic and business history: the journal of the economic and business historical society, ISSN 0896-226X, Nº. 38, 2020, págs. 193-223
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • This article presents the case of Charilaos Trikoupis, who is considered to have been the first to modernize the Greek economy.

    The argument here, based on a review of the daily press and parliamentary proceedings of his time, is that Trikoupis’ development plan was, apart from its modernism, also based on a grand delusion. Trikoupis was a political conquistador in his undertaking of bridging a path of capital between the advanced Occident and Greece. While it became apparent that the strategy he had developed had begun heading towards a profound deadend, he never actually revised it, although he should have. The focus of this article is not to deny Trikoupis’ role as a modernizer, but re-evaluate and refine it.