The book examines United States-European Community relations at a critical juncture in international relations. It analyses the varied forms of interdependence that constrain their relations, and it considers how far the current management of their relations is at variance with the reality of changing conditions.

The book confronts the problem of how to analyse such a complex set of relations as those which exist between the United States and the European Community. It takes as its main theoretical foundation the concept of interdependence, and it relates this to the political, economic and social dimensions of US-EC relations.

The policy dimension of the book highlights the dilemma on the current US-EC agenda: that is, to assess the impact on their bilateral relations of the changed global and trans-Atlantic conditions of the 1980s and 1990s, and to make the necessary strategic changes. The opportunity exists for the most far-reaching revision of their relations in over forty years.