Britain and the European Community: The Politics of Semi-Detachment

With the impending unification of the European economic markets in 1992, the role of individual states within the European Community has become an important yet rarely studied area of European politics. The contributors to this collection of papers apply a "domestic policy" approach to European affairs in an attempt to illuminate foundations of British policy in the European Community. Three themes are identified and pursued--the attempts of the central government to act as a gatekeeper between the British political system and the European Community in order to protect British sovereignty; the emergence of varying rates of adaptation to membership in different sections of government and politics; as well as Britain's apparent "semi-detachment" from the mainstream of European integration. Within this framework, the contributors examine ways in which central departments of state, local government, Parliament, political parties and the general public opinion all have influence on policy.