Of the many European territorial recon?gurations that followed the wars of the early nineteenth century, the Ionian State remains among the least understood. Xenocracy o?ers a much-needed account of the region during its half-century as a Protectorate of Great Britain – a period that embodied all of the contradictions of British colonialism. A middle class of merchants, lawyers and state o?cials embraced and promoted a liberal modernization project. Yet despite the improvements experienced by many Ionians, the deterioration of state ?nances led to divisions along class lines and presented a signi?cant threat to social stability. Sakis Gekas shows that the impasse engendered de- pendency upon and ambivalence toward Western Europe, anticipating the ‘neocolonial’ condition with which the Greek nation struggles even today.
