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  • © 2019

Fear and Uncertainty in Europe

The Return to Realism?

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides a timely critical analysis of major approaches to international relations and assesses their utility to understand recent developments such as the impact of the Trump presidency and Brexit
  • Examines whether foreign policy in Europe has changed during the course of the post-Cold War period
  • Questions whether fear and uncertainty drives foreign policy in Europe and whether realism is a useful instrument to understand it

Part of the book series: Global Issues (GLOISS)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Roberto Belloni, Vincent Della Sala
    Pages 1-10
  3. Multilateral Actors and Issues

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-215
    2. Realism in the EU: Can a Trans-national Actor Be Strategic?

      • Vincent Della Sala, Roberto Belloni
      Pages 241-263
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 289-292

About this book

Russia’s intervention in the Ukraine, Donald Trump’s presidency and instability in the Middle East are just a few of the factors that have brought an end to the immediate post-Cold War belief that a new international order was emerging: one where fear and uncertainty gave way to a thick normative and institutional architecture that diminished the importance of material power. This has raised questions about the instruments we use to understand order in Europe and in international relations. The chapters in this book aim to assess whether foreign policy actors in Europe understand the international system and behave as realists. They ask what drives their behaviour, how they construct material capabilities and to what extent they see material power as the means to ensure survival. They contribute to a critical assessment of realism as a way to understand both Europe’s current predicament and the contemporary international system.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Roberto Belloni, Vincent Della Sala

  • Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, Denver, USA

    Paul Viotti

About the editors

Roberto Belloni is professor of political science at the University of Trento, Italy.


Vincent Della Sala is associate professor of political science at the University of Trento, Italy.


Paul Viotti is professor at the University of Denver's Korbel School of International Studies and Executive Director of the Institute on Globalization and Security, USA.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access