The Making of Britain’s European Foreign Policy

Few commentators would contest that Britain’s relationship with the European Union (EU) has been one of the most consistent and troublesome issues to have influenced British politics during the last fifty years. This has been reflected in the number of publications devoted to this subject, and in particular to the question of the reluctance of successive British governments to commit to Europe. Much of this scholarship has analysed Britain’s relationship with the EU in a historical context, citing the various phases that this debate has passed through (Greenwood, 1992; George, 1991 and 1994; Gowland and Turner, 2000; J. Young, 1984 and 2000; H. Young, 1998). This book offers a new contribution to debates by examining the making of British European policy. It focuses on the dynamics of policy-making in a European context, using a case study approach to analyse a wide range of issues more closely. More broadly it also analyses the changing nature of the foreign policy process itself, and so to remedy the gap of 25 years since the last major study of the process of making British foreign policy was published (W. Wallace, 1975). In line with the Political Dynamics of the European Union series, the book has three key aims. The first is to examine the extent to which Britain’s relationship with the EU is changing. The second is to determine where power lies in the construction of what we term ‘Britain’s European policy’. The third is to examine the extent to which existing structures are adequate to meet the current demands and future challenges to the making of British European policy