Startling changes are taking place in Western Europe; this study argues that the US strategic response should be no less dramatic. Collins describes a creation of a new type of political organization - a new way for people to combine themselves politically in Western Europe - and contends that this new model is dynamic enough to rival older historical paradigms. Western Europeans are making massive changes in their international arrangements, with each other and the outside world, to permit a natural evolution of national cultures along with the development of an intra-European culture. This changing political and economic situation in Europe has already affected the way the US looks at the world diplomatically, and it may soon alter the general thrust of US military strategy with regard to NATO. Europeans and Americans alike are questioning how much longer a united Europe can expect American troops to defend them against the Soviet Union, now that the Cold War era has ended. US Military strategy must change because the world is changing, and the increasing power of Western Europe is a major factor in the equation. Collins concludes that the Common Market countries can no longer be understood as a simple collection of nation-states joined in a cartel or economic alliance, calling for a change in U.S. Foreign policy and strategy. Chapter 1 describes the developments in Western Europe since World War II. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss how the new Western European alliance interacts along both military and political lines. Chapter 4 describes the character of Western Europe and the replacement of the nation-state concept with a new flexibility in dealing with each other and the surrender of sovereignty by the constituent states in limited but decisive areas. The final two chapters suggest possible policy and strategic responses by the U.S. A chapter on strategic implications is bound to be controversial, particularly to traditional military strategists.