EU-US relations in a multipolar system

Abstract

Any discussion on the future of transatlantic relations has to address a fundamental question: Is US foreign policy unilateralism - with the latest case the war in Iraq - random and reversible or a trend which will continue in the future? To answer this question one should acknowledge some important facts. First, at the level of economic interaction, the transatlantic community manifests a highly interdependent relationship characteristic of the age of globalization. Interactions are affected only partially by state policies and, by and large, respond automatically to changing market conditions. However, at the political-security level, the picture changes. The relationship between a federal state and a collectivity of 15, now 25 states, becomes asymmetrical. The effects of this asymmetry are less evident in disagreements over trade where the EU is unified enough to respond effectively, but they are particularly striking whenever a conflict arises over issues directly or indirectly linked to security.