ABSTRACT
Political restructuring has become a major concern of the postCold War era. The collapse of Soviet power in Eastern and Central Europe has seen the re-emergence, or, in some cases, creation ab initio, of independent, sovereign, nation-states in that region, and a similar process is now occurring in the republics which once made up the USSR.1 In Western Europe, partly in response to these changes, especially the emergence of a reunified Germany, the movement towards greater integration which seemed stalled in the early 1980s is now gathering momentum. All told, many political structures and institutions which seemed to be more or less unchangeable a decade ago are now being put in question, their continuing existence no longer a matter simply of inertia, but something that requires a positive defence.
