On October 13 at 18:00 there will be an open lecture. The lecture will be delivered by Oleg Kharkhordin, professor in the department of political science at the European University at St. Petersburg. The title of the lecture is “The Byzantine Republic: to what extent is this conception applicable to the analysis of contemporary politics?”

Anthony Kaldellis in his recent book “The Byzantine Republic” analyzes the history of Byzantium from the 4th to the 12th century and argues that Byzantium was not a theocracy, but a res publica, as it was called by the Romans and afterwards by the Romaioi (as the inhabitants of Eastern Roman Empire called themselves). In Antiquity several historians were even prone to assert that the political regime in New Rome – after the reign of Octavian Augustus – was a mix of monarchy and democracy.

The lecture will examine that model and its applicability to the analysis of the phenomenon of tsarism and tsardom (given that the Russian term “Tsar” is derivative from the Roman title of Caesar), or to Caesarism as it was conceptualized during the 19th century while describing, among other things, the reign of Napoleon III in France and of Bismarck in Prussia. For instance, Max Weber utilized the term “Caesarism” while developing his sociological concept of charisma and the theory of plebiscitary democracy. To what extent do these concepts help the analysis of contemporary politics?

The lecture will take place in the E-center (Yerevan, Charents 31/4, 3rd floor).