Five years ago observers might have doubted that national foreign policies would continue to be of importance: it seemed inevitable that collective European positions were becoming ever more common and effective. Now the divided European responses to the prospect of war with Iraq in 1990-91 and to the war in the Balkans have made what happens in the national capitals seem divisive. The Actors in Europe's Foreign Policy is a timely survey of the interplay between the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy and the long-established national foreign policies of the Union's Member-States. The book contains a chapter on each country in the Union as well as a chapter on the United States in its role as the "thirteenth seat at the table"'. There is also a chapter on the European Commission, whose role in the external relations of the Community steadily grew during the 1980's.

"The Actors in Europe's Foreign Policy" is a timely survey of the interplay between the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and the long-established national foreign policies of the Union's member states.