America, the EU and Strategic Culture Renegotiating the Transatlantic Bargain [Hardcover]

This book provides a provocative analysis of relations between Europe and America during the tempestuous years 1998-2004. Analysing EU foreign policy, it concludes that the lessons learnt in interacting with America have been crucial in shaping the emerging EU strategic culture.

The book challenges established orthodoxy regarding the sui generis nature of the European Union. Through detailed case-studies, it shows how the US influenced decisions during the formative years of the EU foreign and security policy: during the 1999 Kosovo war, the EU and NATO enlargement processes, and the 2003 Iraq crisis. However, the book argues that although policy ends may be lead by the US, the EU is growing increasingly confident in selecting distinctively European means to achieve these goals. These findings have important implications for understanding both the EU as a foreign policy actor and of the EU-US partnership at the start of the 21^stcentury.

Introduction  1. Understanding Transatlantic Relations  2. The Transatlantic Bargain  3. The Kosovo War  4. EU and NATO Enlargements  5. The Iraq Crisis.  Towards a Bipolar West 

Two parallel narratives have thus far shaped the way two very different sets of analysts have thought about Europe: one which stresses what Europeans have done for themselves and another that focuses almost exclusively on what the United States has done to, and for, Europe. The great strength of Asle Toje's meticulous study is to show that such a divide is both meaningless and misleading. If the fate of the United States has been bound up with the evolution of Europe since the end of the Cold War, then the history of the European Union he reveals has been closely shaped by policies emanating from the other side of the ocean. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and tlã3