Transatlantic relations have been a key feature of international relations since the end of the second world war, forming the very core of what is often referred to as the ‘International Liberal Order’.
In light of the multiple crises potentially challenging EU unity on a variety of fronts and a changing US foreign policy orientation, scholars and observers have started to question the strength of this relationship.
Adding further to the uncertainty that characterizes current EU-US relations, the two are interacting within a more volatile international environment and what has been referred to as a changing world order.
Against this background, TransAt will investigate and seek to understand if, how and why EU-US foreign policy relations are affected by a context of EU crises, US foreign policy changes and a more uncertain geopolitical environment.
To address these questions, we conduct qualitative, comparative analyses across a broad range of carefully selected cases in the two key thematic areas of EU-US foreign policy relations: EU-US security relations and EU-US relations in multilateral institutions.
Cases in the first include EU-US security relations in dealings with Russia and China over territorial disputes and on security issues in Africa and the Mena region. We also explore developments in naval burden sharing between the US and European states in the North Atlantic.
In the second thematic area, we analyse EU and US interactions within multilateral settings, exploring EU and US perspectives on UN reform, discussions on new regulations within the International Monetary Fund framework, EU-US interactions and cooperation within the NATO structure, and EU-US relations on issues of the future regulation of the Arctic region.
TransAt will add new empirical knowledge on EU-US foreign and security relations and on EU foreign and security policy cooperation. We also add important analytical insights into the driving forces and mechanisms underlying EU-US relations and EU foreign and security policy developments.