Book Reviews Piening, Christopher. Global Europe: The European Union in World Affairs. Boulder, Colorado, London: Lynne Reinner Publishers Inc., 1997. Pp. xi, 244. Index. $49.95 hardback. $19.95 paperback. This short book provides a geopolitical world tour of the European Union's relations with third states. The author has elected to present this material on a region by region basis, which reflects the perspective from which the Union has constructed its fledgling foreign policy initiatives. Indeed the structure of the book is, from one perspective, a great strength. After canvassing the history of EU external relations in two brief but thorough chapters, the book lays out and describes legal and political initiatives that make up the Union's relationship with Central and East European countries, the Southern Mediterranean and the Middle East, North America, Latin America, and Asia. The only chapter that is formulated by reference to policy dictates, as opposed to geography, is the chapter on the EU, Lomé, and the developing world. The drawback, however, inherent in this strategy, is that it fails to afford opportunity for in-depth analysis of the impact and ambitions of EU policy in any given sector. In the introduction to the study the author himself acknowledges the limits generated by a 'region by region' approach, but pertinently points out that functional distinctions are not easy to draw in different types of policy activity, and that the study, as structured, illustrates just how embracing the EU's global activities have become. The only omission in the author's quest to comprehensively depict the EU as a global actor lies in the failure to make reference to the EU's role in other international organizations. It may have been timely, for example, to present a chapter on the nature and depth of EU involvement in various international fora, how this relates to the sovereign membership of individual Member States, and whether or not arrangements as they stand are workable and desirable. Global Europe: The European Union in World Affairs is an invaluable first reader for those who wish to acquire extremely useful factual information about the Union's activities in this field. It is well researched and well organized, and the author has made an important first step toward closing a breach in the literature on the external relations of the EU. Angela Ward Centre for European Legal Studies, Cambridge Magdalene College, Cambridge
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