Socrates. Plato. Aristotle. Evrigenis. While the final name on the list isn't quite famous enough to escape the condemning red underline of spell check, it is a recent addition to a millenia-old group of Greek political philosophers.
Like his ancient predecessors, Assistant Professor of Political Science Ioannis Evrigenis is considering some of political theory's oldest questions. In his third year at Tufts, Evrigenis is looking at the big issues in political philosophy from some new angles.
Evrigenis' academic attentions are currently absorbed primarily with two related issues: group conflict and identity formation.
"When you don't have something like common language, common ancestry, common religion or pursuit of a specific goal, like acquisition of a certain piece of land, one wonders why a group forms - and there are so many instances of that," Evrigenis said.
After taking a hard look at these issues, Evrigenis determined that he needed to compile some findings of his own.
"In phenomena like nationalism and state formation ... the available criteria couldn't really explain what was going on," he said. So Evrigenis created his own criteria and put them in his first book, "Fear of Enemies and Collective Action," which was published earlier this year.
In his book, Evrigenis introduces the idea of "negative association." According to the political science professor, this phrase refers to "the formation of political groups ... based on identification with others who are similarly situated in relation to an external entity, such as another individual or group." In other words, Evrigenis worked to define how the "us" is formed in "us against them."
Evrigenis' interest in the politics of group conflict stemmed from both personal and academic experience. After leaving his native city of Thessaloniki in Greece to earn a bachelor's degree in political science at Grinnell College and a master's at the London School of Economics, Evrigenis later returned to Greece to serve in the Greek army.
Evrigenis pointed out that Greek identity is hardly young - it formed thousands of years ago when the polises, or Greek city-states, banded together in conflict with Persia. He found, however, that the same conflict resurfaced as recently as 1996, his final year as a soldier.
"During my service, we came very close to going to war [with Turkey]," Evrigenis said. War was avoided, but the crisis showed the young soldier that even those who share commonalities like language, ancestry and religion sometimes need a negative impetus to reaffirm the group's unity and jumpstart collective action.
Evrigenis takes a particular interest in how such a jumpstart can effect radical transformations of identity. Such a transformation occurred in Greece during the Peloponnesian War, as described by ancient Greek historian Thucydides.
In his "History of the Peloponnesian War," Thucydides documented the initial formation of Greek identity in the face of the Persian threat. Involved in that formation is a standard of justice within the state that differs strongly from the standard of justice toward foreigners - by behaving differently towards external groups, the state guarantees justice for its own citizens, Evrigenis said.
This distinction between domestic and foreign justice has remained relevant in the 25 centuries since the Peloponnesian War. "It has been a major issue over the past 100 years especially," Evrigenis said.
The last century saw the formation of a number of international organizations and alliances aimed at maintaining world peace, most prominently the United Nations. Evrigenis explained the dichotomy between supporters and
opponents of such groups.
Evrigenis said proponents claim that if they are "given teeth," such organizations can achieve their goals of global order and cooperation. Opponents point out that because such organizations are built around the membership of individual states, each state will always work to maintain its own interests, a situation that can create enormous political challenges.
"[This situation is] a radical challenge to the states who are called upon to contribute to these organizations, a test to the international system and a test to the resolve of both the individuals within these states and the states themselves," Evrigenis said.
Regarding his time at Tufts, Evrigenis said the size and focus of Tufts provides him the perfect mixture of teaching and research. "I love it," he said.
With his first book still fresh off the press, Evrigenis has already begun work on a second. The new project focuses on the "state of nature" in political philosophy, a phrase first used by Thomas Hobbes to describe that which lies outside political society. Evrigenis pointed out that the state of nature refers to two things: states outside one's own political society and the time before a political society existed at all.
In discussing his current research, Evrigenis pointed out that the political world, for most, is inescapable.
"Only the beasts and the gods can live outside of the polis," he said, quoting Aristotle.
