America, the EU and Strategic Culture

Asle Toje is a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. He has a PhD in International Relations from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

• Introduction 1. Understanding Transatlantic Relations 2. The Transatlantic Bargain 3. The Kosovo War 4. EU and NATO Enlargements 5. The Iraq Crisis. Towards a Bipolar West

“Two parallel narratives have thus far shaped the way two very different sets of analysts have thought about Europe: one which stresses what Europeans have done for themselves and another that focuses almost exclusively on what the United States has done to, and for, Europe. The great strength of Asle Toje's meticulous study is to show that such a divide is both meaningless and misleading. If the fate of the United States has been bound up with the evolution of Europe since the end of the Cold War, then the history of the European Union he reveals has been closely shaped by policies emanating from the other side of the ocean. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and the European Union in its broader transatlantic context.” Michael Cox, London School of Economics“The concept of a transatlantic bargain has provided an inviting canvas on which many analysts have painted since it was first framed by Harlan Cleveland in 1970. Asle Toje’s excellent analysis continues this process, particularly to take into account the new dynamics of the European integration process in the post-Cold War environment. Toje’s book provides a clear-headed, solid assessment of America’s continued influence – for better or worse – on the community-building process in Europe. The bargaining goes on, with Europe still not an “equal” partner but an increasingly influential one. Readers could not do better to understand the current dynamics of US-European relations than referring to Asle Toje’s well-written and thoughtful analysis.” Stanley R. Sloan, Atlantic Community Initiative and Middlebury College “Asle Toje has indeed fulfilled a much needed niche in the study of European Security and transatlantic relations. This book explains the foundations of the transatlantic bargain ang provides a thoughtful and incisive analysis of its re emergence in the post Cold War era. The United States’s impact on an emerging EU strategic culture and an evaluation of the EU’s ‘actorness’ in international relations, are essential factors in understanding the dynamics of a new transatlantic bargain. Yet, these are issues which have not been studied in depth until now. Illustrated through three carefully chosen and researched case studies, Toje shows us that although the US continues to impact European security, the dynamics of this impact are very different from those of the Cold War, where US influence over Europe depended on the former’s primacyover the latter. The way this new influence works is far more subtle andbased on a ‘revised’ transatlantic bargain, one based on partnership. So far a strong analysis of the synchronicity of NATO and EU enlargements has been lacking. This is one of the strengths of this densely researched and densely written book, which I also found to be one of the few enjoyable reads on the subject of European security in recent years.” Gülnur Aybet, University of Kent."Well researched and very readable. At a time when ESDP appears to be taking off in a number of autonomous directions, Toje reminds us with case studies of Kosovo, NATO enlargement and the Iraq crisis of the continuing influence of the US over the underlying orientation of European security policy." Jolyon Howorth, Yale University