Europe and America : the future of Atlantic community

Commonwealths and Common Markets have an economic function, and beyond this they point to the gradual elimination of the sovereign nation-state as the supreme embodiment of collective purpose. The experts have known this for some time; the general public is beginning to realize it. The eighteen months that preceded the breakdown in January 1963 of negotiations for Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, saw terms like 'Atlantic Union', 'European integration', 'federalism' and 'supra-nationalism' enter the general consciousness. A political study which tries to draw some of the strands of the argument together may count on a measure of tolerance even if it runs counter to some established notions. This must be the justification for adding to a swelling stream of literature and for summarizing much that is dis cussed at greater length in the specialized studies on which the author has been obliged to draw.

The primary purpose of this book is analytical. It would have been tempting to produce yet another tract for the times. The urge had to be resisted, though this does not imply neutrality or detachment. A certain underlying commitment to the basic solidarity of the Atlantic world is taken for granted; so is support of European integration, notably in its federalist and quasi-socialist aspects. The question is then asked how a relatively self-contained and autonomous Western Europe can be fitted into the Atlantic Community, now that the era of European hegemony is closed.