Introduction
| Date | 01 February 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2008.00347.x |
| Published date | 01 February 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Introduction |
Introduction
David Hastings Dunn and Wyn Rees
The inauguration of a new US president seems a topical moment to survey the
transatlantic relationship, especially at the end of the tenure of such a controversial
leader as George W. Bush. Several facets of the relationship are covered in this
special issue: the ‘values gap’; the institutional relationship; NATO; transatlantic
economic interaction; the bilateral relationships between the US and key European
powers; intelligence co-operation; homeland security; and efforts to combat climate
change. The collection is authored by a group of European, largely British scholars,
who were brought together at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire in the spring of 2008.
The aim has been to give a European perspective on these issues.
Any attempt to assess the legacy of the Bush administration has to grapple with the
extent to which it has represented an aberration in transatlantic relations. The
popular perception has been that the Bush period marked a fundamental change in
US relations with Europe. This was symbolised above all by the crisis over the
invasion of Iraq, an event Elizabeth Pond described as a ‘near-death experience’ for
the Atlantic alliance (Pond 2004). The tenure of the 43rd US president has been
widely interpreted as a switch by the United States towards unilateralism, a repu-
diation of the multilateral consensus and the instigation of such a dramatic decline
in amity towards its principal allies that it will not be repaired for many years to
come.
Yet the overwhelming tenor of the articles in this edition challenges this popular
perception. Instead the policies of the Bush administration are taken to be largely
consistent with underlying trends in US foreign policy since the end of the cold
war—a view echoed in a recent book by Timothy Lynch and Robert Singh
(2008). These trends were undoubtedly sharpened by the impact of 9/11 and the
shock this inflicted upon the American political system, but they did not mark a
fundamental change in the direction of US policy. For example, Bush eschewed
multilateralism in key aspects of foreign policy but in doing so he was not chart-
ing a radical new course. The implication is that President Obama will have less
of a transformative impact in transatlantic relations than many in Europe have
come to hope.
The US–European relationship needs to be seen against a backcloth of rapid political
and economic change within the international system—the end of the cold war,
European integration and the rise of the Asia/Pacific region. The era of untram-
melled western leadership of the world is gone. Rising economic superpowers like
China, and to a lesser extent India and Brazil, and revived ‘great powers’ like Russia
mean that the US and Europe cannot manage the international system in their own
interests, nor indeed manage it at all without the engagement of these new actors.
In security policy, the US and Europe are still the foremost actors, disproportion-
ately powerful especially when acting in concert. Yet the nature of the security
The British Journal of
Politics and International Relations
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2008.00347.x BJPIR: 2009 VOL 11, 1–3
© 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Political Studies Association
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