The first major study of Atlantic political relations since World War 2 that uses a comparative perspective to analyze U. S. foreign policy and U. S. -European relations in the context of a Western Europe attempting to speak with one voice. The book examines U. S. policy toward European unity and the evolution of a West European pillar in foreign policy and defence, contrasts U. S. and European approaches toward specific global issues, and considers Atlantic relations in light of the dramatic European upheavals in 1989-90.