During the last two decades the study of European foreign policy has experienced remarkable growth, presumably reflecting a more significant international role of the European Union. The Union has significantly expanded its policy portfolio and though empty symbolic politics still exists, the Union’s international relations have become more substantial and its foreign policy more focused. European foreign policy has become a dynamic policy area, being adapted to changing challenges and environments, such as the Arab Spring, new emerging economies/powers; the crisis of multilateralism and much more. The SAGE Handbook of European Foreign Policy, Two-Volume set, is a major reference work for Foreign Policy Programmes around the world. The Handbook is designed to be accessible to graduate and postgraduate students in a wide variety of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. Both volumes are structured to address areas of critical concern to scholars at the cutting edge of all major dimensions of foreign policy. The volumes are composed of original chapters written specifically to the following themes: • Research traditions and historical experience • Theoretical perspectives• EU actors• State actors• Societal actors• The politics of European foreign policy• Bilateral relations• Relations with multilateral institutions• Individual policies• Transnational challenges The Handbook will be an essential reference for both advanced students and scholars.

Realism and European Foreign Policy: Promises and Shortcomings

Realism and European Foreign Policy: Promises and Shortcomings

Realism and European foreign policy: Promises and Shortcomings
Alexander Reichwein

Introduction

Against the background of financial crises and populist anti-European movements within the member states of the EU, and in times of conflicts and wars in Gaza, Georgia, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine (see Allison, 2009; Mouritzen and Wivel, 2012; Wivel, Ruxandra, and Dinesen, 2014), the question of the EU's role as an actor in foreign, defence and security policy is back on the agenda for discussion among European politicians and elites as well as European scholars doing research in the field of European integration within the discipline of international relations (IR). Given EU member states’ inability (or lack of interest) to share common ...

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