United States Western European Relations In 1980

Using extensive survey data, very little of which had been previously reported in the public arena, the authors examine the major issues which dominated U.S.-West European relations during the Reagan years. These include security issues, terrorism, economic relations, superpower relations, and American and Soviet images. An explanation of U.S. and Soviet efforts to influence West European opinion during the 1980s is presented, and the book includes an Epilogue on the Gulf. This book places West European public opinion data in the context of political and historical events during the 1980s as well as in the context of previous public opinion findings from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The authors examine almost 100 multi-country surveys conducted throughout Western Europe.

This book examines the response of the Western Alliance to the Polish Crisis (1980-83). The author analyses the different views of Europe and the United States regarding enforcement in East-West relations and the opposition in Western Europe to the American approach. This case exemplifies the lasting differences in attitude within the Western Alliance.

Based on new and existing research by a world-class scholar, this is the first book in twenty years to examine the dynamics of the entire American-West European relationship since 1945. The relationship between the United States and Western Europe has always been crucial and recent events dictate that it is becoming ever more so. In this important new work, Geir Lundestad analyses the balance between the cooperation and conflict which has characterized this relationship in the post-war period. He examines talk of transatlantic drift, and the strain now apparent between the USA and the nation states of Western Europe. In the concluding section, Lundestad offers a topical view of the future of transatlantic interaction. Throughout the work Lundestad's much cited 'empire by invitation' thesis is both put into practice and extended in time and scope. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in one of the most important and enduring international relationships of the last sixty years.

Relations between the superpowers and the nations of Eastern and Western Europe are especially tenuous as the midpoint of the 1980s approaches. The contributors to this volume assess the current political, economic, and military dimensions of Europe’s international relations and consider the prospects for change, focusing on the role of the rival alliance systems (NATO and the Warsaw Pact), Soviet conceptions of the future of Europe, U.S. goals concerning the maintenance of NATO, and Europe’s assessment of its own interests and objectives. The book concludes by addressing the impact of Soviet and East European domestic developments on present and future East-West relations.

Using a wide array of recently declassified archival materials in the United States and Western Europe, this collection offers new insights into the changing dynamics of transatlantic relations during the era of détente (1969-1980). Whereas prior studies of this decade have focused on the end of the Vietnam War or U.S.-Soviet relations, this volume reveals why bitter conflicts developed between the U.S. and its European allies, and how, contrary to conventional wisdom, European integration evolved less as a consequence of Washington's support than as a result of America's relative decline and growing U.S.-European discord. Taking into account the developments in various bilateral and multilateral settings, such as the European Community, the Helsinki process, and the G-7 summits, the contributions show that a common alliance strategy has always been a difficult undertaking, often the result of bitter confrontation and painful compromises. With clear overtones to more recent disputes, this collection demonstrates there was never a "golden age" of transatlantic harmony.

Using extensive survey data, the authors examine the major issues which dominated US-West European relations during the Reagan years. These include security issues, terrorism, economic relations, superpower relations, and American and Soviet images.