[Commlist] New Book: Populism, Territories, Name Disputes, and Hyperreality: Greek Nationalism and the Macedonian Case

New Book: Populism, Territories, Name Disputes, and Hyperreality: Greek 
Nationalism and the Macedonian Case

In Populism, Territories, Name Disputes, and Hyperreality: Greek 
Nationalism and the Macedonian Case, Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis 
examines how and why societal actors may use different names to refer to 
the same territory. Karyotakis demonstrates the enormous symbolic power 
that the names of places can hold through a study of the Macedonian name 
dispute (MND), arguing that territorial names can be symbolic and 
crucial for constructing nation-states through imbued influential 
meanings affecting citizens' hearts and minds. These symbolic name 
disputes (SNDs), he posits, offer societal elites the opportunity to 
further their own personal ambitions, which can include winning 
electoral power and spreading hatred against non-supporters. Karyotakis 
then delineates how some disputes have maintained a seemingly improved 
version of reality that strongly attaches the conflict to a dogmatized 
dominant narrative which exploits the nationalistic ideas of the 
nation-state and blurs territorial borders (hyperreal symbolic name 
disputes), while other disputes are firmly attached to actual 
territorial claims that arise from a disagreement over control of a 
well-defined physical territory (referential symbolic name disputes). 
Pointing to several persistent territorial name disputes - such as the 
Arabian/Persian Gulf, Kurdistan, the Kuril Islands/Northern Territories, 
Macedonia, Navasa Island/La Navase, and Western Sahara, among others - 
this book provides a model for a novel categorization that broadens our 
understanding of these conflicts.

Reviews of the Book

Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis investigates a heated international dispute, 
not over land or resources, but over the symbolic power of a country’s 
name. His richly detailed and theoretically groundbreaking study has 
global, cross-disciplinary relevance in an age of identity wars, when 
populists inflate enmities for political gain.

Cherian George, author of Fighting Polarisation (Polity, 2025)

Theoretically innovative and empirically rich, this book ably analyses a 
hitherto neglected field: media narratives surrounding the politics of 
naming, supported by a compelling case study.

Daya Thussu, Professor of International Communication, Hong Kong Baptist 
University

Dive into a compelling exploration of territorial name disputes through 
the lens of the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) in this insightful book by 
Dr. Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis. Combining rigorous historical analysis 
with contemporary political discourse, Karyotakis conducts a novel 
categorisation of territorial name disputes and reveals how names and 
identities shape national narratives and political power dynamics. With 
a keen focus on the interplay between populism and identity politics, 
this work examines the MND’s impact on Greek political actors, the 
media’s role in shaping public perception, and the existential threats 
perceived by citizens. Readers will gain a nuanced understanding of how 
hyperreality influences societal divisions and the implications for 
democracy.

Dionysios Stivas, Professor of International Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong 
Liverpool University

Publisher’s page:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/populism-territories-name-disputes-and-hyperreality-9781666950069/

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