ABSTRACT
Soviet scholarship has examined several key aspects of Congressional involvement in US-West European relations. Because of Western Europe’s importance as one of the main regional actors in contemporary international relations, one Soviet writer stresses that conflicts between the executive and legislative branches on US policy toward Western Europe “have sometimes been severely exacerbated by their different approaches to foreign policy issues in general and to relations with West European countries in particular.” This Soviet case study on Congress and its role in US policy in Western Europe is on balance quite thorough. Clearly, in the early 1980’s, most notably in 1982, a growing number of Members, particularly Democrats, came to the conclusion that the Reagan Administration’s approach to Western security issues was producing serious disquiet and deep resentment in Western Europe, not only among left wing opposition groups but conservative governments in power.
