This chapter provides a structured treatment of the historical context for the mutual entanglement of European integration and the broader development of international relations, bearing in mind the threefold framework set out in the first chapter, namely, European integration as a sub-system of international relations, as part of the general processes of international relations, and as a potential or actual ‘power’ in international relations. The chapter looks at developments up to the end of the 20th century and provides some background to the topics covered in the following chapters. It shows how the European Union’s (EU’s) international role has continuously been shaped by both by the changing international environment and the continuous interaction between politics, economics, and security.
