The Transatlantic Relationship: Not Quite for the Scrapheap Yet

The past decade has seen much debate on the fraying of transatlantic relations. Realists have pointed to the EU countries’ limited military expenditure as evidence of the NATO alliance’s declining utility, and have hailed the ‘rebalancing’, or ‘pivot’, towards Asia (and the threat of a rising China). Liberals have also worried about the ‘pivot’ signaling an end to the transatlantic partnership. Meanwhile the various NSA eavesdropping scandals have taken their toll, seemingly placing even the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement in jeopardy.

Many of these dire predictions, however, may turn out to be overblown. The ‘US pivot to Asia’ is unraveling and a renewed American focus on Europe is observable both in security and economic terms. Confronted with the crisis in Ukraine and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the two sides have once again moved closer to each other. NATO has rediscovered some of its old raison d’être in deterring Russian aggression, as witnessed by the summit in Cardiff, and in the Middle East Europeans have contributed significantly to the US-led intervention.

This paper thus asks whether we are now seeing the beginning of a new transatlantic bargain characterized by both realist and liberal elements, combining both strategic and military cooperation with deeper economic interdependence. Is the US re-committing to a prominent role in European security? And will the EU reciprocate by stepping up its own role as a provider of security and as a channel for its member’s foreign policies?