Extract

This book is being written at a time when Euro-Atlantic cooperation is about to enter unchartered waters. The financial crisis and the ensuing austerity measures have affected the security relations between Europe and the United States profoundly. The Arab Spring of 2011 has shifted from optimism to instability and new harrowing conflicts. In Libya, Mali and Syria the international community’s Responsibility to Protect was put to the test and left it powerless to cope with knock-on effects such as civil war, the spread of terrorism, vastly increased numbers of refugees, and the insecurity surrounding trade and investments. Russia’s flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and annexation of Crimea in 2014 provoked a crisis that brought back fears of east-west confrontation. At the same time, the Asian great powers are intensifying their presence in international politics, and new rivalries might easily lead to disputes. The long-term goal of US policy in the volatile Asian Pacific is to re-balance power relations and to impose an increased American presence in the region.

The US ambition to re-balance and its unwillingness to take a leading role in conflict management in traditional conflict regions have led to a new debate over transatlantic burden-sharing. Today, the Europeans are neither militarily strong enough nor politically cohesive enough to utilise their resources effectively. The lack of political coherence and interoperability, it might be argued, prevent Europe from playing an active role in the new international order, alongside the Asian great powers, Russia and the United States. What...