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440 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. vii (1978)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0440 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE The need for periodic reassessment of major institutions in an era of swift change explains this collection on the Western European Community after twenty years of operation. It has developed less vibrantly than its framers had hoped, but it has survived several momentous crises, and even grown in scope, size, and influence. The experiment of economic coopera- tion and integration has resulted in a vast common market of workers, capital and goods-a flourishing concern. Admittedly, issues and sources of conflict from the first decade continue, and new problems arise, obstruct- ing the road toward that 'ever closer union' that the Treaties of Rome forecasted. The attempts to illuminate the past, clarify the present, and project into the future contained in this issue are the products of specialists from numerous disciplines and backgrounds. They disagree openly and fre- quently, but are in accord that the results of research into the nature and mechanisms of this regional integration venture require greater exposure and discussion in the United States. Hopefully, this series of papers will broaden knowledge and understanding about the Community which is, with all its imperfections, a great and growing weight and authority in global politics and the new world economy. This issue focuses on institution building and policymaking, reviewing many of the causes for the Community's uneven record and emphasizing the new issues of the seventies. Various obstacles have impeded progress toward harmonization, coordination, and integration in the fields of energy, transfer of technology, monetary, and foreign policies. Accomplishments have been limited and real Community linkage has been based on sound structural foundations and economic stability-growth. For certain specific goals, the member-states are cooperative and have demonstrated a capacity to expand. But ambitions are in fact more modest and priorities more carefully and realistically set. Often, the Nine find that they must fight the tendency merely to retain past gains and achievements. Those obstacles that will inevitably deter advances are the economic ills-inflation, unemployment, the balance of payments deficits, shortage of energy, the appeal of protectionism, and the widening gap of economic divergencies among the partners. But the prevailing crises are not all economic in character. Structural failings in the Community remain. In- stitutional evolution must be geared and adapted to the newer problems, such as creating greater connections to the grass roots. The authors point out the achieved strategy areas of joint policy and the arena where there are encouraging signs of progress, but they also delineate the failures of the uneven, spotty, almost woeful institutional apparatus. With all its imperfections, the Community is alive, basically well, outward-looking in most cases, certainly open minded and liberal, and a greater weight in the globe today. Yet it remains too bureaucratic, is too frequently a reflection of strong nationalistic instincts, and lacks direct democratic accountability. It is a growing concern that at times flourishes, vii

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