The future of transatlantic relations

Abstract

Recent world events bear witness to a qualitative change not only in transatlantic relations but in international relations more generally. The trigger point for this change seems to have been the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. Also important were the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ascendance of US power in a new, unipolar world. Suddenly the institutions developed for a different world seem ill suited to the new one, and the strains are showing. Some European countries see institutions like the UN as serving to restrain US power. Precisely for this reason, however, some people in the US see these institutions as harmful to US interests. When forced to choose, the US, like any country, can be expected to put its own interests first.