Examining such issues as the welfare state, the politics of unemployment and government-industry relations, this work looks at the developments in western European politics up to and during the 1980s.

Taking a thematic approach, Derek Urwin addresses the major political and economic developments in Western Europe since world War II, including the political consequences of the end of the Cold War, and the troubled progress of European integration since Maastricht.

Taking a thematic approach, Derek Urwin addresses the major political and economic developments in western Europe since World War II, right up to the present day. The book covers issues and developments in national politics, and the movement towards greater unity in Western Europe and the role of Europe in global politics and in the international economy. The text has been revised throughout and updated to take account of the political consequences of the ending of the Cold War and the troubled progress of European integration since Maastricht. The Fifth Edition has lost nothing of its...