ABSTRACT

This book offers an overview of the interface between European integration, transatlantic relations, and the 'rise of the rest' in the early 21st century.

The collapse of the Soviet bloc opened up an era in which the drivers and perceived benefits of the US alliance among European countries have become more variegated and shifting. The proposition that the US remains at once an 'indispensable' and 'intolerable' nation in Europe is a key concept in the alliance, as the US remains inextricably tied to the continent through economic, military and cultural links.

This work examines this complex subject area from many angles, including an analysis of the historical and cultural contexts of America’s relations with Europe, as well as a discussion of the politics of transatlantic affairs which utilises evidence gleaned from a series of case-studies. In the concluding chapters, the author assesses the likelihood that the West can entrench its global dominance in the realms of "soft" and "hard" power, and by effecting a "controlled reform" that will see multilateral structures open up to emerging powers.

This book will be of great interest to students of European Politics, EU integration, transatlantic relations, US foreign policy/diplomacy, International Security and IR in general.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter |14 pages

Indispensable and intolerable nation

The US in European geopolitics

chapter |13 pages

Defining threats and interests

Drivers, processes, and objectives

chapter |13 pages

Transatlantic threat perceptions

“With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

chapter |14 pages

The forgotten ballast

Economic interdependence vs. high politics

chapter |32 pages

Regional case studies

The politics of transatlantic relations

chapter |14 pages

NATO after Lisbon

New compact or obfuscation of irreconcilable differences?

chapter |14 pages

Dogmas and dependence

Assessing the NATO–CSDP impasse

chapter |11 pages

The military balance

Emerging threats or new providers of global public goods?

chapter |12 pages

Normative contest

The decline of Western “soft power”?

chapter |12 pages

Locking in Western dominance

The West in international organizations