We know very little about the history of the Belgian contribution to the European Construction from 1945 to the present. That wilt say that the historiography has to fill a gap, more particularly in the field of therole of leading men and pressure groups. The case of the European League for Economic Cooperation is a good one because it shows the determinant influence of a man and its friends over the « attentive opinion», not only in Belgium but also in (...) other European countries, at the beginning of the cold war about the so called European Challenge. But the birth and development of the ELEC show also that national problems could deeply influence an international initiative. The opposition of the Socialists in Belgium considerably hindered the international issue of the ELEC. (shrink)

There are very few publications concerning the history of the foreign policy of Belgium. Those concerning the relation between public opinion and international relations are even less frequent. Based on publications of the results of public opinion polls organized by the Universitary lnstitute for Economic and Social Information, and a limitedchoice of other written sources, it is possible to prove that the call on the public opinion concerning the history of international relations, and even more for the decision making, must (...) be treated very carefully. In fact, there doesn't exist just one but several public opinions. The reactions in Belgium on the resolution of the United Nation concerningthe division of Palestine may be a clear example of the latter. (shrink)