ABSTRACT
Italy is one of the few European countries where constructivism has never taken root. Instead, the literature is characterized by a certain predilection for the classics and for multidisciplinary philosophically embedded theory. What then is the reality of Italian International Relations (IR)? This chapter investigates IR theory in the peninsula of the continental IR archipelago that has been the most successful in keeping its vices and virtues secret. We thus wish to contribute to the larger debates on continental European IR (Jørgensen 2000) from a national perspective and to the European challenge to the hegemonic role of American theory in the discipline.
