Understanding The Post 9/11 Transatlantic Security Community

Abstract

Is there an emerging fundamental divide between the United States and Europe in the post 9/11 world? This article examines the transatlantic relationship from a constructivist theoretical approach, emphasizing a security community underlying the North Atlantic region. Constructivists have emphasized how a transnational collective identity develops and builds stable expectations of peaceful relations amongst states, but they have not had much to say about how security communities become de-constructed, i.e. how they break down. To what extent do conflicts in values and norms undermine the collective identity? What I ask here is whether there is a widening difference in the European and American political-strategic cultures that is undermining the security community? My argument is, yes, there is, and the emerging post 9/11 transatlantic security community may look quite different from its predecessor.