The major European neutrals - Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland - are heirs to a venerable and adaptable tradition. In the turmoil of the past two centuries, many neutral states have disappeared, others have joined alliance systems, and those that have remained or become neutral have often seen themselves as misunderstood, even as their international positions have solidified. Neutrality is no longer an easily defined, static legal concept, but an evolving political practice. Between the Blocs, published in 1990, features many of the pre-eminent scholars and political figures who have crafted the shape and meaning of the modern policy of neutrality and nonalignment in contemporary Europe. With its wide-ranging and non-ideological analysis of the phenomenon of Europe's neutral analysis of the phenomenon of Europe's natural and non-aligned states, Between the Blocs promises to become a modern classic in the field.

This collection adds to the extensive literature on Northern Ireland and Ireland by bringing together the leading academic and political figures working in the field and offering a comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of the historical process. The topics discussed include the remote and proximate causes of the conflict, fresh developments within the two states on the island, the role of the Roman Catholic Church, the rise of the ecumenical movement and the impact of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement on the triangular relationship between Dublin, Belfast and London. The volume concludes with an evaluation of likely impact of membership of the European Community on the conflict in Northern Ireland. The contributors to this book do not offer any easy solutions but provide a context in which the problem may be better understood by the international scholarly community and by the interested general reader.