Η τρίτη ιδεολογία και η Ορθοδοξία (review)

312 Reviews western Europe, it brings the pathbreaking work of a Hellenic scholar to the attention of other disciplines. Ultimately it argues not only for the interconnectedness of ideas but also for the necessity of understanding "other" Enlightenments . Gregory Jusdanis The Ohio State University Dimitris Kitsikis, Δημήτϕης Κιτσίκης, H τϕίτη ιδεολογία και η Οϕθοδοξία. Athens: Akritas. 1990. Pp. 357. Dimitris Kitsikis, a historian at the University of Ottawa, is well known for his controversial books on Greece. In this volume he attempts to resolve the confusion about the relationship between fascism and Orthodoxy. His analysis includes a thirteen-point model that he claims can be used to evaluate the ideological foundations of any régime. Kitsikis devotes most of the book to an analysis of fascism, which he calls the "third ideology"; he concludes with the finding that the Orthodox faith has no connection to any political ideology. The author claims that it is necessary to resolve the confusion that exists between religion and political ideology. Created in the 19th century when religion was used as an ideology, this confusion was manifested in Western Christian Democratic parties, in Russia's Orthodox Panslavism, and in the Panislamism of the Ottoman Empire. In these cases religion became the ideological support of specific political parties. A recent manifestation of these trends in Greece was the slogan used by the Greek junta, "Greece of Greek Christians," even though a Christian life-style appears not to have been the objective of the military that controlled Greece from 1967 to 1974. Examining the genesis of ideologies, Kitsikis concludes that the deadlock facing today's Western societies can be attributed to the Renaissance and to modern technology. Orthodoxy became the victim of Western cultural and religious imperialism. Western Europeans disregarded Orthodoxy, while Westernized Greeks identified with Western civilization in all its aspects. This is why Greeks today find themselves on the "sinking ship" of Europe. The West also created the Third World and placed it in the orbit of underdevelopment . In turn, Third World societies have tried to Westernize in order to escape from their dependence on the West. Finally, Kitsikis attributes to the West all three major ideologies, i.e., liberalism, communism, and fascism. The intellectual father of fascism according to Kitsikis is Jean Jacques Rousseau . These three Western ideologies were intended to fill the void created by the marginalization of religion. According to the author, there has never been a complete history of fascist ideology in Greece. What has been written is often intended to pre- Reviews 313 dispose the reader negatively toward fascism, and to create fears about a fascist threat in Greece. The history of Greek fascism is linked to the development of Greek nationalism and to anti-Westernism. After the murder of Capodistria, Greece fell into the hands of Westernizers who, in 1981, completed the process of the nation's Westernization by integrating it into the European Community. AU Greek political parties are "Western" in their orientation. "Venizelos became for Greece what Ataturk was for Turkey ... As the end of Ataturkism and the overthrow of Western values is clear in Turkey's horizon, the end of Venizelism and of Greek Westernization may not be far either . . ." (p. 257). Kitsikis finds that, over the last fifty years, fascist ideology was present among Greek régimes that were not "totally fascist." Included were the régimes of Metaxas, of the colonels (1967-74), and of Andreas Papandreou. As in his earlier writings, Kitsikis continues to argue that there was an ideological relationship between the régimes of Papadopoulos and Papandreou. Kitsikis believes that the notion of a Christian Democratic party is alien to Greek tradition and has been imported from the West. This is why Mksotakis 's New Democracy party proves the threat posed to Orthodoxy by Greece's entry into the European Community. Orthodoxy is against all ideologies . Even if Greece's entry into the European Community served its economic and political interests, it does not serve its cultural and religious interests . Thus, "Constantine Karamanlis became the leader of Greece's decline, and succeeded where the leaders of Byzantium failed, i.e., to fully integrate Greece in the "Frankish" civilization . . ." (p. 288). The author concludes his work by indicating that...