ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a review of Dutch foreign policy from the end of the Second World War to the beginning of political co-operation in the European Community. 1 The example of The Netherlands is a useful starting point for two reasons. First, Dutch foreign policy of the period arguably represents the most orthodox West European-centred case study of our sample. As founding members of all post-war regional and international institutions, the Dutch case serves as something of a benchmark from which to view the rather more fastidious participation of both Denmark and Ireland. A second and corollary reason for beginning with the Dutch example is that their early involvement in the debates surrounding European integration served to set the context for what both Danish and Irish policy makers found to be the starting line of their own participation in that process.
