The United States and the European Union: The Political Economy of a Relationship by Terrence R. Guay

Author:Terrence R. Guay [Guay, Terrence R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781135972370
Google: Jc1YAQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 18703898
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2001-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

5 |

A Post Cold War Relationship

Introduction

The end of the Cold War ushered in an awkward era in US–EU relations. Initially, there was a wave of optimism about the future of global affairs in general, and transatlantic relations in particular. The end of superpower tensions enhanced the likelihood that major world powers would refocus their energies on issues of ‘low polities’, such as economic development, environmental protection, human rights and democratization. At the same time, as mentioned in Chapter 4, the US and Western Europe shared in the feeling of ‘winning’ the ideological debate between communist authoritarianism and market democracy. Under the circumstances, US and European leaders can be forgiven for thinking in the immediate post Cold War years that, in the future, economic disputes and political conflicts would be minimal, and that transatlantic relations would unquestionably be strengthened.

However, as suggested in this chapter, the 1990s has proven to be the most difficult decade in US–EU relations. The Cold War served as a unifying force in US–EU relations. In its absence, economic disputes, which might have been resolved relatively quickly during the previous three decades, became more drawn out, complex and damaging to the relationship. At the same time, the EU's attempts to become a more influential actor in international political affairs added to the sense of rivalry. This became most noticeable in the attempts to end the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, but was also evident in international trade negotiations and multilateral initiatives that tried to address global problems, such as the Rio, Kyoto and Buenos Aires environmental conferences. This chapter will describe how the major events of the 1990s shaped and were shaped by the actions of the US and EU, and why this decade may be pivotal for the future of US–EU relations.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.