This book analyses the salience of foreign and security policy issues to domestic actors, its role in the analysis of international politics and its consequences for foreign policy decision-making. It provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of issue salience and develops the state of the art.

Beginning with a chapter on the concept of issue salience and its role in analysing international politics, it has a strong comparative framework and focuses on different domestic actors: the general public; political parties/parliaments; and the media. It features empirical studies drawn from countries in Western Europe and North America and addresses the salience of different issue areas in three key areas of international politics:








European Integration



Foreign and Security Policy



Transatlantic Relations



Finally the book offers critical appraisals of the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of issue salience and the methods for measuring it.

This volume makes an important contribution to scholarly debates on the role of public opinion in foreign affairs and on the prospects of parliamentary control of foreign and security policy. It will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, international relations and foreign policy.

Kai Oppermann is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Political Science and European Affairs, University of Cologne, Germany and the Managing Editor of Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik.

Dr. Henrike Viehrig is Assistant Professor and Chair of International Politics and Foreign Policy at the University of Cologne, Germany.