The realist theoretical tradition has never enjoyed a strong position in Europe. During recent decades, although it is commonly claimed otherwise, it even seems to have lost its limited traction and most of its relatively few representatives. The aim of the article is to analyse this evolution, highlight how realist theorists have contributed limited conceptual or theoretical innovation, been unable to adjust their research agenda to current analytical challenges, and produced relatively few comprehensive empirical studies informed by one or more realist theories. Instead, we observe three main activities. Some realists do meta-studies on realist theory. Others do retrospectives, for instance, (re-)discovering the qualities of classical realist scholars or classical concepts such as the security dilemma. Still others practice ideology that may enjoy certain functions in legitimising national foreign policy orientations but has limited theoretical quality. Thus, textbooks are probably the only remaining context in which realism is presented as constituting a dominant orientation; a fact that highlights the complex and problematic relationship between reality and representation.

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The aim of the article is to develop a conceptual framework for the analysis of foreign policy paradigms. In order to develop such a framework, we review the wider literature on policy paradigms and adapt it to the field of foreign relations and diplomacy. Adaptation includes the explication of key concepts, such as identity, values, goals, means and principles. Importantly, we do not only explicate key concepts, but also, subsequently, outline methodological avenues for empirical research on foreign policy paradigms. In this fashion, the article offers a conceptual framework that analysts can apply in empirical studies of both national and transnational foreign policy paradigms, including the field of EU foreign policy.

This article claims that the involvement of Greek (Rum) merchants in European capitalism had a direct impact on Greek independence movement. In this context, evaluations will be made in a wide range of areas, ranging from the social and economic position of the Greek population in the Ottoman Empire, the advantages they gained through capitulations, their increasing international trade capacities and their active presence in European port cities. It should be underlined that even though the mentioned events, the conditions of the period or political developments are frequently discussed in the discussions, this study did not aim to be an archive survey or a classical historical research. Instead, by using the multi-level analysis method of the International Relations discipline, historical, social and economic evaluations have been made on the axis of the claim that national independence movements can be shaped by the effect of internationalization and that capital accumulation is one of the precursors of social change. In this context, the article draws attention to the issue of how Greek merchants' world views have changed by being influenced by their location, while their presence in the commercial and financial structure of Europe is getting stronger over time. The aim of politically and socially being included in the European geography under the roof of their own nation-state, led the Greek merchants to be the first and biggest financiers for the education of the young Greek intelligentsia and the organization of the Greek independence movement. It is clear that to analyze how the process of joining an indigenous merchant class into international capitalism has turned into a nationalist movement will contribute to our understanding not only of the relationship between the development of capitalism and nationalist movements, but also the formation of modern nation-states.

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