Dr. Polyvia Parara Presents Research at the 29th Modern Greek Studies Association Symposium
October 22, 2026
Dr. Polyvia Parara Examines Competing Visions of Democracy in Modern Greek Political Thought
Dr. Polyvia Parara, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Classics and Director of the Modern Greek Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, presented her paper, “Revisiting the Question of Democracy: A Comparative Study of Rigas Feraios, Adamantios Korais, and Ioannis Kapodistrias,” at the 29th Modern Greek Studies Association Symposium, held at the University of Illinois Chicago, October 15–18, 2026.
Her presentation examined the contrasting conceptions of democracy, universal suffrage, political representation, and citizenship articulated by three prominent figures of modern Greek political thought. Drawing on Rigas Feraios’s New Political Administration (1797), Adamantios Korais’s Prolegomena, and the political correspondence and historical records of Ioannis Kapodistrias, Dr. Parara explored their divergent understandings of political freedom and popular sovereignty.
The paper highlighted Rigas’s vision of political equality and popular sovereignty, Korais’s preference for Western parliamentary institutions, and Kapodistrias’s emphasis on citizens’ material independence, particularly access to land, as a prerequisite for meaningful political freedom and participation.
The comparative study illuminated the tensions between the Greek tradition of democratic self-government, Western representative parliamentarianism, and the socioeconomic foundations of citizenship during the formation of the modern Greek state.
The panel presentations sparked a lively, engaging discussion. The panel moderator, Professor Louis A. Ruprecht Jr., offered particularly appreciative remarks, describing the panel as bringing together some of the most learned scholars he had encountered at the Symposium.