This study brings together an international group of country specialists in a comparison of the EU states' foreign policies. It examines those policies which are 'Europeanized' through the EU's processes and those policies which are retained or excluded from the EU's processes. This book analyzes the dual impact of the Treaty on the European Union and the post-Cold War environment on the foreign policy processes of the EU's member states. It also argues for a distinctive approach to the foreign policy analysis of EU states which recognises the fundamental changes that membership brings after the Cold War, but also acknowledges the diverse role of policies which states seek to retain or advance as being 'special'.

The analysis looks firstly at those states which might be considered 'primus inter pares'. Secondly, it examines commonalities and differences among the smaller states. In a third section, the booklooks at the (post)-neutral states. All the empirical chapters are structured by six sets of explanatory questions.