New Politis is a blog about citizenship. Its aim is both to encourage an open and dynamic exchange of ideas on what citizenship means in the Hellenic Republic in these unprecedented times, and to serve as a resource for innovative citizenship projects all over Greece.

The principal objective of the Politis team is to interact with a broad and diverse audience, in part to generate self-sustaining discussion and citizen action, in part to share data and results from various research projects undertaken at the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service.

The blog also welcomes longer, more scholarly essays reflecting colleagues’ ongoing research efforts on the larger theme of “The Future of Democracy.”

We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.
Margaret Mead

The Inspiration Exchange is an initiative that seeks to stimulate and support students in finding creative and courageous solutions to contemporary problems.

Crises carry with them not only danger, but also a window of potential, and it is at this time that new ideas and the commitment to act upon them have never been more needed.

The Inspiration Exchange series is dedicated to the belief that if given the trust and hope, young people can and will seize the opportunities to make the changes that the world needs.

This initiative is a series of interactive explorations of how students can make a difference in their communities and can manage and run their own social projects to bring about change.

The first event in the series took place in December 2011 with a presentation by Genevieve Laurier, President at Oxford Hub – a student generated and managed NGO that coordinates volunteering projects, training, community outreach and research in Oxford and other UK cities.

Since then events have been organized on a semesterly basis, featuring community actors who are changing attitudes and approaches to civil society in Thessaloniki and throughout Greece.

We find ourselves at a moment in time when think tanks and research and policy institutes are proliferating and coming into their own as an integral piece of the fabric of civil society, not only in the United States, where they have a long and distinguished legacy, but across the globe as well.

The Dukakis Center undertakes applied research on select topics. One of the Center’s roles is to function as a small, issue-centric think tank. 

The Center is an active partner in networks forged by the following organizations:

• Italian Institute for International Political Studies https://www.ispionline.it/en
• On Think Tanks https://onthinktanks.org/

The Dukakis Center also collaborates with think tanks and civil society organizations in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. The Center hosts the annual Thessaloniki Civil Society Forum and frequently co-hosts public events with local and international partners.

The Dukakis Center mourns the sudden passing on November 30, 2021, of Dr. James McGann, founder and director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, with whom the Dukakis Center collaborated on three occasions between 2019 and 2021.

Athens-based institutions

• Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) https://www.eliamep.gr/en/
• Institute for International Relations (Panteion University) https://idis.gr/en/
• European Public Law Organization https://www1.eplo.int/
• Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) http://iobe.gr/default_en.asp
• Institute of International Economic Relations (IDOS) https://idos.gr/?lang=en
• Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) https://www.kepe.gr/index.php/en/
• Centre for Analysis and Planning (CAP) https://www.mfa.gr/en/the-ministry/structure/centre-for-analysis-and-planning.html
• Institute for Global Affairs (American College of Greece) https://www.acg.edu/about-acg/institute-of-global-affairs/
• diaNEOsis https://www.dianeosis.org/en/
• DIKTIO Network for Reforms in Greece https://todiktio.eu/en/home/
• Vouliwatch https://vouliwatch.gr/about/en
• International Center for Black Sea Studies https://icbss.org/
• Institute for Democracy Konstantinos Karamanlis https://idkaramanlis.gr/en/
• Center for Liberal Studies (KEFIM) https://kefim.org/en/
• Circle of Ideas for National Reconstruction (EKYKLOS) https://ekyklos.gr/
• The Green Tank https://thegreentank.gr/en/
• Geolab Institute - Laboratory for Geocultural Analyses https://geolabinstitute.org/
• Transparency International Greece https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/greece

Thessaloniki-based organizations

• Navarino Network https://www.navarinonetwork.org/
• South-East European Research Centre (City College) https://www.seerc.org/new/
• Public Opinion Research Unit (University of Macedonia Research Institute) https://www.poru.eu/en/home-2/
• Institute of International, Defense and European Analyses (University of Macedonia) http://idea.uom.gr/en/
• Institute for Balkan Studies (IMXA) http://www.imxa.gr/profile_en.htm
• Center of International and European Economic Law https://www.cieel.gr/en/
• Millennium Project -- Greek Node https://www.phemonoe.eu/millennium-project-node/
• UNESCO Chair for Futures Research https://www.futures.gr/en/
• Information Technologies Institute (CERTH) https://www.iti.gr/iti/index.html
• United Societies of Balkans https://www.usbngo.gr/

Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service
ACT - The American College of Thessaloniki
P.O. Box 21021
55510 Pylea, Thessaloniki
Greece
+30 2310 398 227
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David Wisner, Ph.D.
Executive Director
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David Wisner is Professor of International Relations at ACT -- The American College of Thessaloniki, and Executive Director of the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service.

He is the author of an acclaimed monograph on the origins of the French Revolution, and of scores of scholarly and popular articles, in English, French, and Greek, on a wide variety of historical and contemporary topics. Under the auspices of the Dukakis Center he has written two collections of essays which reflect the Center’s research and outreach orientation, one on the Greek sovereign debt crisis, the other on the future of democratic governance.

At the Dukakis Center he has also commissioned a number of polls and reports, and organized and hosted hundreds of public events. He convenes an annual forum of Greek think tanks and civil society organizations, and has collaborated with dozens of research institutes worldwide. He is the host of “This Day and Age,” a video podcast series.

David Wisner holds a Ph.D. in Modern History from the University of Rochester and has attended post-graduate courses and lectures at the Université de Paris IV and the Ecole du Louvre. He has been at ACT since 1994, and served as founding Chair of ACT’s Division of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2004 to 2016.

David Wisner is on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Select publications as Dukakis Center Director:

"Gatekeepers of democracy," Kathimerini English edition, May 13, 2019

The Joy of Politics (Kindle Edition) 2017  

"Engaging democracy," Kathimerini English edition, April 28, 2016

"@#$% democracy," Politis, September 23, 2015 

"The Sacrifice of Iphigenia," Politis, August 19, 2015

Still at Aulis: Essays on Crisis and Revolution in Greece and the Eurozone (Kindle Edition) 2014  

"Political reform begins with civic education," Kathimerini English edition, December 15, 2011

NB David Wisner's articles for Politis, the blog of the Dukakis Center, are available at http://politis-dukakis-center.act.edu/.

Three words: Older, Smarter, Better. We call it the ACT advantage.

Our parent institution, Anatolia, has been training regional and global leaders for more than a century, making us one of the oldest institutes of higher learning in this part of the world. The quality of our program is evident in the superior way we design our courses and curriculum, use our resources, manage our relations with our many constituencies, and prepare our students for life after college.

But there is more. We are currently the only private institution of tertiary learning in Northern Greece with American accreditation and EU validation. We have partnerships with some of the leading universities in the world. We attract leading diplomats and political figures to interact directly with our students every semester – people like Nicholas Burns, Alvaro de Soto, Nikiforos Diamandouros, Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, Michael Dukakis, and many others.

Add to this a solid curriculum taught by some of the most devoted teachers you will ever meet, and an unparalleled program of extra-curricular activities, all on a splendid wooded campus outside the noise and pollution of the city, and you have a winning combination. 

Every year since 1998 ACT has awarded financial aid to qualified IR majors. There are two principal forms of support: standard financial aid, based on need; and merit aid, based on academic performance. In 2006 and again in 2007 nearly 40% of incoming students in the IR program received some sort of financial aid.

In most cases the recipients of aid have been extremely successful. Consider Ilda Zhulali, who graduated in 2001 after transferring to ACT from the University of South Carolina. She was the top student in IR when she graduated in 2001. She first began working in the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then went to Oxford to do an MA in International Relations with a scholarship from the Italian government. She is now head of the department of European integration in the Albanian MFA.

Sotiris Themistokleos came to ACT from Cyprus as the recipient of a special scholarship offered by an ACT Trustee. He, too, received an award for academic excellence upon graduation and is currently finishing an MA at Birkbeck College, University of London. He plans to teach and become involved in politics and diplomacy when he finishes his studies.

For the Class of 2011, Valedictorian Ermal Vila was a recipient of Merit Aid with a GPA of 3.9/4; he was also selected by the University of Wales to receive a bursary scholarship for his senior year. During his time at ACT Ermal took part in dozens of lectures and other activities on and off campus, including several master classes with senior diplomats and a session of the European Youth Parliament, and also did a formal internship at the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe. Ermal is currently doing an MA at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on a full scholarship.

Ours is the most international of the academic programs at ACT, with students coming from three continents and a dozen countries. Some are sons and daughters of professional diplomats; all are young people with passion and curiosity. Most know already what they wish to do in life; others discover themselves throughout the course of their studies.

Our students are generally socially mobile, and typically intend to use their ACT degree as a passport for some sort of international career – either in the form of post-graduate studies or in terms of work abroad. Nonetheless, the majority of our alumni eventually make their way back to their home countries. We pride ourselves in fact in our positive contribution to sustainable regional development.

One characteristic unites all our students and alumni: a fierce pride and loyalty to ACT and the IR program. And they all respond to our principal message: No matter who you are, you can look forward to success if you are willing to work hard, keep an open mind, and take advantage of the many opportunities that come your way.

Did you know that Alexis Papahelas studied history and international relations in college?

More than 100 students have taken one of our degrees in IR. Our success rate among graduates in IR is superior to US and EU averages.

We find that the breadth of our general education program makes for better diplomats, while the skill sets developed in the specialized IR curriculum are also ideal for business and academic careers. Take the first three students who graduated with a BA in IR, back in 1999. One is a practicing architect and co-founder of the motion design studio Nomint, one a general manager at Hellenic Fabrics, and one a successful Athens-based journalist.

Other graduates are working in government ministries, international organizations, and ngo’s; are active in local and national politics; are involved in business and in teaching; or are self-employed as successful entrepreneurs. Several have also done post-graduate studies at some of the best universities of the world, and, indeed, our program will give you a great head start if you wish to pursue an MA, MBA, or Ph.D. after graduating from ACT. 

Alumni of the ACT IR program have been offered jobs by the following companies and agencies, among many others:

European Commission
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
University of St Andrews
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
United States Institute of Peace
Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
FYRoM Miistry of Foreign Affairs
Janes Publications
East-West Institute
Schuman Associates Brussels
Heritage Foundation
International Office of Migration
European Center for Vocational Training – CEDEFOP
Municipality of Plovdiv
Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe
Nomint Motion Design
Hellenic Fabrics
CNN Greece
United States House of Representatives
UK Data Archive
Saatchi and Saatchi

International Relations, or IR, is actually a relatively new field of academic study. It is comprised of a combination of academic disciplines and methodologies we at ACT call the Human Sciences.

To start with, all ACT students receive a broad academic base, with special focus on communication skills – you will do a lot of reading, writing, and public speaking. The program has a practical dimension as well, with lots of emphasis on problem solving.

The core of the IR curriculum is a series of courses in foreign policy, political economy, regional integration, and international law. Students also take a specially designed cluster of courses in gender, geography, and culture, in addition to more traditional politics and history sub-disciplines. Finally, you will have several optional courses, or IR electives, in a wide variety of areas.

Our program in IR is unique in its dual emphasis on public service and international diplomacy. We aim to produce better citizens – regardless of where you come from and what you hope to do in life – and we provide pre-professional training for a wide variety of careers.