Greek Foreign Policy: Theoretical Orientations and Praxis

Abstract

This paper presents the evolution of the field of international relations in Greece and its subsequent influence on the country’s foreign policy. The author tries to demonstrate the existence of a dialectical relationship between theory and praxis, between the politicians and the academia on the formulation of Greek foreign policy.

Two major influences-currents emerge: one originates from the various schools of international relations introduced late in Greece –and not well assimilated in a some instances- and the other is the result of the historical episodes and socio-cultural characteristics of the country.

Even though international relations constitute a new field, introduced in Hellenic universities only after 1974, we can detect a series of problematics raised in the current debate and their close link with the practice and empirical study of Greece’s foreign policy.