Does The Transatlantic Alliance Have A Future?

Abstract

No doubt the early progress in European integration was supported by the pax Americana, the stability of the Bretton Woods system and the ideological front formed by the Western world against the Soviet Union (USSR). An increasingly united Europe was also seen as necessary to avoid yet another world war. Long considered America’s most important alliance and a benchmark by which a president’s foreign policy skill is measured, the US-European relationship has been shaken over a series of disputes that culminated during George W. Bush’s presidency. While the years 2004 and 2005 witnessed a gradual recovery of transatlantic relations, the future remains uncertain. Have these problems arisen because of Bush’s presidential style? Or are there other deeper factors underlying transatlantic tensions? What does the future hold for the political and military alliance that bonded Europe and America for over half a century?