Welcome to the official site
of Panagiotis Dimitrakis

'Panagiotis Dimitrakis has written a compelling and important new work of Cold War history. His analysis, which is transnational and comparative in scope, fully illuminates the travails of SEATO and CENTO over their troubled lifetimes. In doing so it underscores the complexities of intra-alliance dynamics and the unstable regional foundations of Britain's and the United States' global Cold War strategies.'

W. Taylor Fain, Associate Professor,
Department of History, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

 

 

'Drawing upon careful primary research, Failed Alliances of the Cold War is a cogent and stimulating exploration of the development and fate of two important if ultimately unsuccessful alliances in Asia and the Middle East. The book illuminates often-neglected aspects of British and American foreign policies in the developing world, while the question of intra-alliance dynamics is pertinent to many historical and contemporary situations. Panagiotis Dimitrakis has made a valuable contribution to the literature of the Cold War.'

Jonathan Colman, Lecturer in International History, University of Salford

 

 

'This is an important study of a neglected subject. CENTO and SEATO were like Potemkin villages, presenting the fa?ade of stability to the world, but empty of purpose and power behind the scenes. It is clear that national interests and the bi-lateral links between the USA and the UK, and with their respective alliance partners in the Middle East and South- East Asia were the key determinant of policies, usually of a cautious nature, towards developments in these regions, thus rendering CENTO and SEATO largely meaningless and irrelevant as alliances. This gives us a new, and striking, perspective on the Cold War and the pressing need to re-evaluate the degree of hostility between the West and the Communist bloc.'

Saul Kelly, Reader in International History, King's College London

 

 

'This study was long overdue, and will counterbalance the excessive NATO-focus of alliance studies. We can only hope that the archives of the member-states of these alliances will soon be open to make more studies possible, especially from their perspectives.'

Professor Beatrice Heuser, Chair for International Relations, University of Reading

 

 

'With one step, Panagiotis Dimitrakis has extended the study of contemporary intelligence and crisis management into the Aegean, providing a unique account of how Greek policymakers forged their assessments of the Turkish threat during a tense two decades following the Turkish occupation of half of Cyprus. He draws on the conceptual literature on intelligence and surprise attack, largely developed in the AngloSaxon world with some notable Israeli contributions and uses it as a template against which to evaluate the performance of successive Greek governments. It soon becomes apparent that while the familiar dilemmas concerning the relationship between intelligence and policy may take on distinctive forms in quite different political cultures in many respects they are all too recognisable. In the process fascinating light is thrown on how Greece has sought to manage its relations with Turkey. Even during the Cold War these two NATO allies were as prepared to fight each other as they were the Warsaw Pact, creating great anxiety among their alliance partners.'

from the Forward by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman
KCMG, CBE, FBA, FKC, Vice-Principal (Strategy & Development)

 

 

" [Greece and the English is] A fluent and readable account"

Sir Michael Llewellyn Smith, Anglo-Hellenic Review

 

 

'In "Military Intelligence in Cyprus" Panagiotis Dimitrakis takes the reader on a fascinating grand tour of the history of British intelligence and strategy in the eastern Mediterranean. His book is a valuable and authoritative contribution to the growing literature on Britain's secret wars.'

Professor Joseph Maiolo,
Department of War Studies, King's College, London

 

 

'Panagiotis Dimitrakis has mined the archives separating fact and fiction from a world that was filled with smoke and mirrors. He lays out an exciting story and all its secret machinations by spies and double agents, with gripping clarity. His approach is objective, balanced and verifiable.'

David Carter, editor of the Cyprus section of Britain's Small Wars

 

 

'In Greece and the English Panagiotis Dimitrakis offers readers a rich and sweeping account of royal diplomacy between Britain and Greece based on a thorough study of the available sources in both countries. This is a fine debut for a brilliant young historian.'

Joseph Maiolo, King's College London.

 

'The author deals with a subject, monarchy in Greece and its connection with Britain, which has not been approached comprehensively in the existing literature in English. Panagiotis Dimitrakis covered, in a most satisfactory manner, the ground of archival evidence available to researchers, mostly at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. He utilized as well extensively invaluable Greek sources, the most important being the diary of the last grand marshal of the Court who illuminates the final phase of the Greek monarchy before its abolition in 1973. The author succeeded in producing a lucid text which can relate to the general reader and retain simultaneously its academic value.'

Sotiris Rizas, Academy of Athens.