The interaction of Community and European Political Cooperation (EPC) affairs is a subject which has been neglected in the research on European integration. While legal scholars have partially taken up the complex task of treaty exegesis, there has been a dearth of research from the political perspective. This thesis fills a major gap in the discussion of EPC from theoretical, analytical and empirical aspects. Thus, it explores from a Community perspective not only the normative question of whether the European Community (EC) requires or even desires an institutionalised, external political voice to fulfil its role as an international trade alliance; but also, and more important, it examines the political linkages implicit in and inseparable from economic decisions and actions. In this context the thesis examines, through a series of case studies, the issues and tensions that have come about and still exist in the European Community in the interplay between forces of integration, external relations, and EPC: the aspiration for political integration on one hand, and the desire by the member states of the Community to retain independence on the other. The resulting tension from these forces is best reflected in the relationship between EC external economic relations, and European Political Cooperation, manifested in the quest for actorness by the Community.