A word of the Director

“Based on the premise that practicing human rights protection equals to democratic rule of law, and there is no one right way to educate for democratic leadership, but understanding that democratising the educational process is important, the Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece aims to foster democratic governance and participation in public debate by promoting democratic political culture, civic participation, free media, and by giving a voice to those marginalized or unheard.

The question of citizenship lies at the heart of the legitimacy of rule and political subjectivity. Discussions on citizenship – what it means to be a citizen, who can act as a citizen, what obligations derive from citizenship – are at the forefront of much political discourse. Time again and again we seek to understand how citizenship is claimed, disputed, built — in short, enacted. Citizenship has been an unprecedented project in the making. But it is not simply about status and rights. There is a dynamic element too: citizens, migrants, refugees, illegal aliens and states, all enact claims to citizenship. How do acts shape our ideas of subjects of citizenship, and the very idea of citizenship itself? Acts that articulate claims to citizenship (and produce claimants) create new sites of belonging and identification, differing from traditional, and still important, sites of citizenship, such as voting, social security and military obligation. Acts of citizenship stretch across boundaries and produce new subjects and scales of citizenship. We expand the focus from what people say (opinions, perceptions, attitudes) to what people do – an important supplement, and sometimes a corrective, to a conventional focus on what people or authorities — be it the CoE, the EU, as well as national courts, agencies, and organisations — say about citizenship and identification.”

Despina SYRRI, Director

The educational programme of the School of Political Studies in Greece consists of an annual cycle of seminars, participation in the Council of Europe World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, as well as capacity building training, and it aims at education, co-operation and dialogue among civil society, policy makers, experts and the media.

The main, long-term educational program of the School in Greece is the Annual Seminars, which are implemented in cooperation with the Council of Europe. The program of the seminars is designed to follow the basic orientation of the School – it focuses on human rights, anti-discrimination, social inclusion, democratic citizenship, freedom of expression, democratic governance, equality and gender-based violence, migration and protection of the environment. Often, the theme of these seminars are cross-cutting issues that come to meet other projects being implemented by the organization.

The annual cycle of seminars consists of a one-year cycle of educational activities, face-to-face, hybrid or digital, depending on conditions. The program envisages three national seminars, as well as participation in the World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

The national seminars are of four-day duration and are organized at various locations in Greece to achieve national coverage and participation. The programme takes place through interactive lectures and workshops and is designed in a way that, in addition to intensive work, leaves time for mutual networking of participants. All seminars are held in accordance with the Chatham House rule, which allows for open debate with the lecturers and among the participants.

Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece, also organises every year several capacity building seminars and workshops, aiming to increase skills and knowledge on specific topics and addressing local authorities, civil society activists, educators, intercultural mediators, humanitarian practitioners and other groups.

Symbiosis-School of Political Studies in Greece is committed to embedding sustainable practices across all its activities – and to advancing the sustainability debate through policy-relevant teaching and research. The School produces interdisciplinary educational material and research in a wide range of policy-relevant fields.

A range of Symbiosis-School of Political Studies projects are designed to engage directly with communities, the public and private sectors and civil society. Research and capacity building is undertaken within the framework of European Commission programmes, while the school’s faculty members and students consider the distribution of well-being across communities and individuals locally, nationally in Europe and globally, and the promotion of democracy, human rights and rule of law in all societal contexts. Sustainability refers to achieving universal and non-declining human well-being over time, particularly its economic, environmental and social dimensions, working on diverse real-world problems, such as gender-based violence, discrimination and human rights violations, migration and asylum, media and disinformation, environmental crisis, and more.