Book excerpt: This volume is the result of a joint effort on the part of European and American scholars to describe and analyze the nature and the role of the European Community on the threshold of the 1990s. The 1980s stood witness to a significant change in West Europe from "Eurosclerosis" to close European cooperation in the fields of security, foreign policy and trade. This newly won "assertiveness" on the part of the West Europeans will be put to a test in the next decade, as, in addition to the progressing West European integration process, a new dynamic is likely to preoccupy the 1990s – the ongoing reform process in East Europe.