Continued drift, but without the acrimony: US–European relations under Barack Obama

Abstract

If the measure of Barack Obama's success in mending USÁEuropean relations is whether the tone has improved, his presidency has been a great success. If the measure of success, however, is halting the drifting apart of policy preferences, the picture looks a lot less rosy. This article argues that the 'drift' in relations did not start and end with the Bush administration. Rather it reflects deep-seated preferences and very different world views on both sides. Given this, the best any one leader on either side can hope for is to manage relations with as little friction and acrimony as possible. The Obama administration realises that, and by this more limited measure, it has succeeded brilliantly.

The bridge that Blair built: David Cameron and the transatlantic relationship

“…Clark (2007) has suggested that by trying to be the main power that ties the United States and Europe together, the United Kingdom would be torn in two. There also appears to be a high level of consensus in the literature suggesting that the United States and the European Union (EU) are firmly on divergent economic, security and diplomatic paths (Pollack, 2006;Rees, 2008;Hallams, 2009;Kahler, 2009;Trachtenberg, 2009;Devuyst, 2010;Nielsen, 2013). Previous attempts by British prime ministers to bring the two powers together have not been successful and have even weakened the British position.…”

Measuring Strategic Hedging Capability of Second-Tier States Under Unipolarity

“…The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has become a cornerstone in ensuring US and European security. During the years of the Cold War, the transatlantic relations have been very close with instances of tension and temporary discord such as Suez Crisis in 1957, Vietnam War in the 1960s, and de Gaulle's decision to pull France from NATO in 1966 (Gaddis 2005;Nielsen 2013). After the demise of the Soviet Union threat, EU countries lost several competitive advantages in the military sphere, and European military spending has decreased steeply.…”

“…As a result US military spending was nearly twice that of the EU25's by the early 2000s (SIPRI 2014). The decline in the European armies' performance has clearly emerged during the Yugoslav Civil Wars; the conflict in Kosovo did not resolve until the military intervention of the US, which carried out most of the combat operations (Dinan 2004;Nielsen 2013). Following NATO's military operation in Libya 2011, NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen mentioned ''significant shortfalls in a range of European capabilitiesfrom smart munitions, to air-to-air refueling, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance'', a statement suggesting that the European countries could not have succeeded without the US' technical support (Nielsen 2012).…”

The West and the Global Power Shift

“…Intra-European divisions made Obama's NATO policy diffi cult, with different European partners expressing concern over the US government's shift on missile defence and the Obama administration's initial determination to reset relations with Russia (Nielsen 2013 ). Yet the allies continued to recognize the centrality of the collective defence guarantee in NATO, which has been given new purpose after Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine.…”