ABSTRACT
The idea that European foreign policy amounts to nothing very much in international politics obviously implies that it serves neither state interests nor global needs. The twentieth century has seen one of the most speedy and remarkable dissolutions of an empire in history, as the world role of the West European states has been dismantled. The development of an integrated world economy means that the rich, trade-intensive states of the European region have a serious involvement in global patterns of production, exchange, debt, and migration. The European Community is an economic power-bloc, one of Henry Kissinger's distinctive poles of international relations. Its subsidized agricultural exports depress world prices, its markets are crucial for all the world's trading nations, its monetary policies are important in determining international financial stability. The Community is heterogeneous in the attitudes which members take to the wider international system. Ireland is a neutral country, unwilling to join any ventures which appear to touch on defense matters.
