This study provides a lucid and comprehensive survey of British policy towards European integration from 1929, when a French foreign minister first suggested a European Federation, to 1999, when the single currency, the Euro, was launched. Fully revised and updated, this second edition explains why Britain did not become a founder member of the European Community in the 1950s, what motivated the French to prevent Britain from joining in the 1960s and why, since 1973, most British governments have found it hard to commit to a European future.

Author Biography

JOHN W. YOUNG has been Professor of Politics at the University of Leicester since 1993. His publications include Britain, France and the Unity of Europe, 1945-51 (1984), France, the Cold War and the Western Alliance, 1944-9 (1990), Britain and the World in the Twentieth Century (1997) and The Longman Companion to America, Russia and the Cold War (1999).