Georgios Vasiliou and the Imperatives of Cyprus’s Foreign Policy: Examining the Role of the Individual in International Relations

Abstract

The article examines the foreign policy strategies of the third President of the Republic of Cyprus, Georgios Vasiliou (1988-1993), through the prism of the anthropology of international relations. The main emphasis is on his attempts to resolve the Cyprus conflict and successfully integrate Cyprus into the EU. The analysis explores the interconnection of various factors in Cyprus’s foreign and domestic policies, which are related to the peculiarities of its political culture and internal party-political processes. The authors conclude that Vasiliou’s policy was largely shaped by the peculiarities of his personality, biography, education level, and overall political culture. The correctness of Cyprus’s European choice and Vasiliou’s leading role in this process is yet to be evaluated by future generations. It is this choice that allowed Cyprus to timely initiate the mechanisms of modernization, transforming it into a modern democratic and innovative state. The work incorporates littleknown biographical facts and materials from the Cyprian newspaper and personal interviews with the former president.