ABSTRACT
To many outside observers, the evolution of Spain's external relations during the 1980s and into the early 1990s was of prime interest in so far as it constituted one of the most notable case studies of a state seeking fundamentally to restructure its international identity around incrementally-accumulating norms of European co-operation. This reshaping was neither a finite process nor an end in itself. Rather, once Spain had successfully remoulded itself into a standard European-oriented state by the early 1990s, it became pertinent to analyse how this long-coveted framework would be employed and managed in order to advance perceived national interests. Spain might have become a fully European democracy, but the point was to assess the implications of this, the opportunities but also the responsibilities it would bring in its wake. The contributions to this volume explore the way in which the reshaped or redefined framework of Spain's external relations was harnessed as the 1990s progressed. The preceding chapters offer a range of perspectives on Spain's performance in this regard. In broad terms, a distinction can be made between largely positive assessments of Spain's role in internal EU developments, on the one hand, and chapters offering a more critical assessment of Spain's response to wider international challenges, on the other hand.
