External and Internal Shocks: Policy Needs Beyond ‘Win-Win’

This chapter presents the book and provides an outline of it: Europe faces ‘hard power’ challenges in Russian revisionism, mass migration, and terrorism. These are external shocks for Europe and they require strategic policy responses, employing hard power such as military and police force. These challenges present themselves at a time when the US puts pressure on Europe to manage its own security problems. The chapters discuss the transition to multipolarity and the return of Realpolitik, as well as the specific European approach to international politics based on a postmodern mindset. It sets the stage for the subsequent analysis of the central question of the book: Can Europe act strategically?