European foreign policy

About this book

Can the dominant theories in foreign policy analysis explain recent European events - particularly the twin 'revolutions' of the ending of the Cold War and the proposed further integration of Europe under the Maastricht Treaty? In European Foreign Policy leading international scholars address the implications of this question. Analysing foreign policy changes in the new Europe, the contributors assess the state and foreign policy, foreign economic policy, the long-term future of European security and the role of multinational companies. The book also focuses on foreign policy actors in the light of major theories. The discussions range from the examination of weak power theory in the context of Nordic reactions to the Soviet coup to the agency-structure debate after the collapse of the Cold War European system. In addition, two substantial critiques by specialists from outside the field explore the issues raised in this book from a feminist perspective as well as from a post-modern view of the wider theoretical context within which foreign policy analysis is embedded. A unique contribution, European Foreign Policy interrogates the relationship between academic analysis and political reality by examining empirical issues in the light of contemporary theory. It will be of considerable interest to students taking courses on European foreign policy, and to scholars working in foreign policy analysis, international relations theory and the external politics of the European Community and its members.