The Evolution of the Political, Social and Economic Life of Cyprus, 1191-1950

The book examines the evolution of the political, social and economic life of Cyprus from its conquest by Richard the Lionheart to the 1950 referendum on Enosis. Even with such a long period, around 900 years, the interest in controlling the island becomes clear given its particularly advantageous geographical position between Europe, Africa and Asia. Undoubtedly, Cyprus has always been an important centre for military and economic activity in the wider region. This book provides an interdisciplinary approach which combines history, political science, sociology, international relations and economics. It will be of interest to academics in Economic History, Middle-Eastern Studies, Mediterranean Studies and researchers in general, as well as anyone interested in political theory and the role of the state in particular.

Part One. From Richard the Lionheart to the cession of Cyprus to the British.- First section: The domination of the West.- 1. The conquest of Cyprus by Richard the Lionheart.- 2. The period Lusignan domination.- 3. The crisis of Frankish rule.- 4. The period of Venetian rule  (1474-1578).- 5. On the fall of the Venetians.- Second Section: The Ottoman period (1571-1878).- 6. The organization of production in Cyprus and the economic situation of the rayah.- 7. Administration.- 8. Population movement.- 9. The first uprisings (1578-1688).- 10. The crisis of the Asiatic mode of production in the Ottoman Empire.- 11. The role of the Church from the mid-17th century onwards.- 12. The uprising of Boyatzoglou and the administrations reforms it triggered.- 13. The reforms of 1754.- 14. The organization of taxation in the 18th century.- 15. The role of the Church as landowner and economic factor. 16. Insurrections in the 18th and 19th century.- 17. The events of 1821.- 18. Administrative changes and social reactions in the 1830-1839 period.- 19. The reforms of the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire (Tanzimat, Hatt-i humayun.- 20. The shaping of the rising bourgeois class.- 21. Relations between the rising bourgeois class and the Church.- 22. The existence, transmutation and emergence of differences between the two communities.- Part Two. The first period of British administration 1878-1939.- 23. On the act of cession of Cyprus from the Ottomans to the English.- 24. The institutional and political framework for the administration of Cyprus after the 1931 uprising.- 25. Education.- 26. The institutional framework for local self-government.- 27. The first forms of economic development.- 28. The internal conflicts within the hegemonic groups of the Greek Cypriots.- 29. The first rise of Young Turk nationalism (1878-1912).- 30. British offers of cession of Cyprus to Greece, in 1912 and 1915.- 31. The demand for Enosis in the 1920s.- 32. The causes of the Uprising in 1931.- 33. The consequences of the Uprising.- 34. Change in the structures of power.- 35. The growth of the Cypriot economy and the transition from agricultural power coalition  to capitalist hegemony.- Part Three. From the Second World War to the 1950 referendum.- 36. The Second World War.- 37. Social conditions in the 1940s.- 38. A brief account of the new stance of the Communist Party of Cyprus on the question of Enosis.- 39. The municipal elections of 1943. 40. The creation of the Cypriot National Party (KEK) and the founding of the Labour Confederation of Cyprus (SEK).- 41. The question of Enosis and the internal political controversies of the period 1943-1945.- 42. The 1946 municipal elections.- 43. The dual elections for the designation of the Archbishop.- 44. The stance of the Turkish Cypriots.- 45. The thinking of the British, the organization of the "diaskeptiki" of 1947 and its aftermath.- 46. AKEL after the "diaskeptiki".- 47. The sharpening of the internal conflict after the "diaskeptiki" up to the municipal elections of 1949.- 48. The referendum of 1950.- 49. Conclusion.

Spyros Sakellaropoulos is a Professor in the Department of Social Policy at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece, with State and Political Theory as his particular area of specialization.