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2. Transatlantic Tensions and European Security
- Author:
- Mary Elise Sarotte
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Any nuanced assessment of current transatlantic tensions requires an awareness of their historical context. An understanding of the legacy of the Cold War in particular helps to answer the following questions: (1) What are the sources of current US-European tensions? (2) Has the transatlantic connection sustained mortal damage, or can it endure? (3) What changes of attitude and of focus might help the transatlantic relationship in the future? The argument is as follows: The US-European relationship is under assault not just because of recent US military actions but also because of a longer-term shift away from a successful US Cold War grand strategy that still had much to offer the post-Cold War world. However, cause for alarm is limited, because the history of cooperation, the lack of alternative partners, and the very real nature of external threats means that neither the US nor the Europeans have any realistic alternative to cooperation with each other.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Cold War
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
3. The Rise and Fall of the Bush Doctrine: the Impact on Transatlantic Relations
- Author:
- Justin Vaisse
- Publication Date:
- 04-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Between 2002 and 2005, a relatively coherent and profoundly renewed strategic approach to international relations was developed by the Bush administration. Premised on an optimistic assessment of great power relations (”a balance of power that favors freedom”), it emphasized the importance of promoting democracy as a way to solve many of the long-term political and security problems of the greater Middle East. It rested on the view that American military power and assertive diplomacy should be used to defeat tyrannies, challenge a pernicious status quo and coerce states into abandoning weapons of mass destruction and support for terrorism - without worrying too much about legitimacy or formal multilateralism. The Bush doctrine led to tensions with the Europeans, who for the most part shared neither the world view that underpinned it nor its optimism about possible results, especially as far as geopolitical stability, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction were concerned. Then, in 2005, two silent developments took place: the Bush administration, while insisting on staying the course rhetorically (through “transformational diplomacy”), reverted to classical realism in its actual diplomacy - largely for reasons of expediency. China and India, on the other hand, imposed themselves on the global agenda, bringing multipolarity back into the picture of the world to come. While generally closer to European views, the new American realist line remains distinct from the European insistence on strengthening the rules and institutions of global governance.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Terrorism, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Europe, and Middle East
4. The Unraveling of the Atlantic Order: Historical Breakpoints in U.S.-European Relations
- Author:
- Charles A. Kupchan
- Publication Date:
- 04-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- The argument of this paper is that the Atlantic order is in the midst of a fundamental transition. The transatlantic discord that has emerged since the late 1990s marks a historical breakpoint; foundational principles of the Atlantic security order that emerged after World War II have been compromised. Mutual trust has eroded, institutionalized cooperation can no longer be taken for granted, and a shared Western identity has attenuated. To be sure, the Atlantic democracies continue to constitute a unique political grouping. But as scholars and policy makers alike struggle to diagnose the troubles that have befallen the Atlantic community and to prescribe mechanisms for redressing the discord, they would be wise to recognize the scope of change that has been taking place in the Atlantic order.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Security
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
5. Inevitable Decline versus Predestined Stability: The Structure of Disciplinary Explanations of the Evolving Transatlantic Order
- Author:
- Gunther Hellmann
- Publication Date:
- 04-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- The future of NATO has been a hotly debated topic at the center of IR debates ever since the end of the Cold War. It has also been a very complicated one given the discipline's conceptual and theoretical difficulties in studying change. Most analysts now agree that NATO (and the transatlantic order more broadly) are going through some major changes. Yet while there is consensus that the depth as well as the pace of these changes is more far-reaching than in past decades it is unclear exactly how deep and how far these changes reach. In order to come to grips with these changes most of the chapters in this book are exploring the character as well as the sources of these changes. This chapter approaches the topic by examining how the discipline has dealt with the question of the evolution of the transatlantic order in the past. It argues that IR has not been very well equipped conceptually to deal with the phenomenon in question, ie. large-scale processes of change. In applying a typo-logical framework developed by Paul Pierson the chapter discusses what types of causal accounts have dominated in the IR literature – and what this may tell us about particular strengths, biases and potential blind spots in coming to grips with the evolution of this order. In essence it argues that the structure of the most prominent explanations is often quite similar irrespective of paradigmatic descent. Inspite of major differences – inspite, even, of mutually exclusive predictions – as to the expected path of the order ́s evolution realist, liberal and constructivist accounts heavily rely in equal fashion on causal arguments which emphasize large-scale causal processes which are almost always framed in rather statist structural terms even though they essentially entail slow moving causal processes. This temporal dimension of the causal processes presumably shaping the future of the transatlantic order is seldom spelled out in detail, however. Thus, if one examines the debate as a whole one sees a picture of IR scholarship which essentially oscillates between two extremes: the position that NATO (as the core institution of the transatlantic order) was (and is) certain to survive and the position that it was (and is) certain to collapse. What is more, these extremes on a spectrum of possible positions on the transatlantic order ́s evolution between breakdown on the one hand and successful adaptation on the other are not hypothetical but mostly real. Thus, the debate does not gravitate towards the center (ie. a position which, for instance, envisages a loser but still cooperative relationship) after the usual give and take of exchanging scholarly arguments. Rather it mostly sticks with either of the two extreme positions. The chapter illustrates the problems associated with this point in some details and discusses potential remedies.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, NATO, Cold War, and Politics
6. The Idea of the West:: Changing Perspectives on Europe and America
- Author:
- Andrew Gamble
- Publication Date:
- 04-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- America owes its origins to Europe and is unthinkable without Europe, but there has always been a strand of American thinking which has downplayed the connection and wished to assert the exceptionalism of the American experience and the need for America to keep Europe at a distance to involve contamination from its old, corrupt power politics. Europeans were fascinated by the new world unfolding in America, which contrasted so sharply with their own, yet was so intimately related to it. At the same time they regarded America as for the most part a novice and outsider in world politics. Recently roles have been reversed, with many Europeans condemning America as a new Empire, while many Americans accuse Europe of refusing to share the burdens and make the hard choices needed for global leadership. The idea of the West which for four decades united Western Europe under American leadership after 1945 has been undermined. Different current meanings of the 'West' are explored through recent arguments about the nature of the relationship between Europe and America, focusing on narratives of security, modernity and ideology. A number of possible scenarios for the future of this relationship are then outlined.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
7. The Building of Regional Security Partnership and the Security Culture Divide in the Mediterranean Region
- Author:
- Fulvio Attiná
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Fulvio Attiná examines the concept of “regional security partnership” both theoretically and in the context of Euro-Mediterranean region-building. He argues that this partnership is an intermediate venture on the road to the possible appearance of a Euro-Mediterranean security community. By discussing the difficulties of negotiating a security partnership in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, Attiná highlights the security culture divide on both sides of Mediterranean. The differences in the security culture between European and Arab states have deepened in recent years in view of regional and global developments, constituting a major obstacle to the implementation of a security partnership. Attiná argues, however, that the interaction between the two shores of the Mediterranean in coping with globalization-driven problems may prevail over the factors that have led to a deepening of the security culture divide in recent years.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Globalization, and Nationalism
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Arabia
8. Normative Power: The European Practice of Region Building and the Case of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP)
- Author:
- Beverly Crawford and Emanuel Adler
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper lays out a normative approach to the study of power in International Relations. This approach emphasizes the role of cooperative security practices, region building, and pluralistic integration in order to achieve peaceful change. The paper discusses the challenges to cooperative security practices in the Euro-Med process, a process that aims to promote the construction of a Mediterranean “region” of stability and peace. In order to understand what lies behind the EU's use of use of these practices, this paper suggests that they represent the application of “normative power” (Manners 2002: 240) in international relations. The practice of normative power differs significantly from a traditional understanding of the use of power in international relations. The paper assess the potential this concept of normative power to promote a shared sense of security in, and peoples' regional identification with, spaces and socially constructed regions that transcend the cultural and civilization borders of the Mediterranean region.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Europe
9. Political Securitisation and Democratisation in the Maghreb: Ambiguous Discourses and Fine-tuning Practices for a Security Partnership
- Author:
- Said Haddadi
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Said Haddadi examines the interaction between security and democracy discourses and their mutually affecting relationship within the framework of the political and security basket of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. In this context, Haddadi places special emphasis on the role that institutions and practices within the EMP may play in contributing to the convergence of security and democracy views between the EU and North Africa. Against this background, this paper assesses the main arguments that underlie the political and security partnership within the EMP. The focus is on the process that led to the EU's 'securitization' of the Maghreb, that is, the EU's prioritization of security concerns relating to North Africa. Haddadi' s analysis of the interaction between security and democracy discourses in the EU and in North Africa points to a number of inconsistencies and dilemmas that are not sufficiently addressed by the institutions and practices of the EMP.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North Africa, and Maghreb
10. Transforming Competitiveness in European Transition Economies: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment
- Author:
- Jasminka Sohinger
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become one of the main drivers of globalization and integration of the European transition economies into the world economy, especially the European Union. Its growth enhancing capacity has played a significant role in transforming their competitiveness, both locally and on international markets, and its propensity to stimulate institution buliding is changing both economic and political landscapes in the region. The economic conditionality of FDI and the EU access-driven reforms are working hand in hand in helping the goals of transition and the convergence process. The achievement of both goals is seen as the best guarantor of peace and security in the region.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Europe