AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

Chapter eight: the mock turtle's story.(Great Powers in Wonderland)(Critical essay)

The National Interest

| March 01, 2008 | Maull, Hanns W. | COPYRIGHT 2008 The National Interest, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will rake you there."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

THE EUROPEAN is a "composite power" It frequently have a "common foreign and security policy" more on paper than in reality. Moreover, internal issues are likely to take up much of the EU's attention and energy. But there will also be more exceptions to this rule--that is, challenges where EU policy will be more than the "lowest common denominator" cobbled together from the sum of its members' individual policies. What will push the EU along this trajectory toward an "ever closer Union" as a global player will be the ineluctable pressure of problems in which individual member states--even the biggest, such as Germany--will not be able to make a difference on their own. Take climate policy, where the EU has had a unified position since the early days of the ozone-layer protection efforts in 1985, despite the facts that, first, it is never quite clear who is in charge--member governments or the EU--and, second, the EU's united position changed from that of a laggard (during the 1980s) to that of self-proclaimed vanguard on efforts to protect the global environment. Or take international security, where the EU has rapidly expanded cooperation and "Europeanization" on efforts to combat international terrorism, and recently has strengthened its common policy on nuclear nonproliferation, led by a joint initiative of France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Unlike the other great powers, the EU is not only a composite but also an incomplete power: its special characteristics make it naturally inclined toward cooperation with others, while its limited ability to act as one on the global scene renders it particularly vulnerable to a dearth of coordination. Its closest and most natural partner in cooperation is the United States, for reasons of shared values, common interests and a long history of collaboration. But precisely because of this proximity, America often also serves as a foil for Europe to emphasize distinctiveness, as an external unifier of Europeans among themselves. Thus, the EU is the power most defined by its relationship with America and inclined to work with the United States. This usually happens when the Europeans feel that the directions in which Washington wants to lead are compatible with Europe's own broad conception of international order and that Washington's leadership style respects European sensibilities. Take nuclear-nonproliferation policy. Since the end of the cold war, the United States and the EU have worked together quite effectively on a range of such issues--as long as both were in agreement on upholding and strengthening the existing Non-proliferation Treaty regime. But when the Republican majority in Congress under President Clinton and, later, the present administration moved away from this consensus, tensions within the alliance grew as the Europeans insisted on sustaining the multilateral treaty framework and its key institutions: the IAEA and the UN Security Council. American and European nonproliferation policies began to diverge, with grave consequences.

When the United States and EU disagree, the Europeans will try to provide an alternative--either by developing a new framework for cooperation or, failing that, by pushing ahead on their own. The Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court provide examples of the latter; the breakdown of the transatlantic and European alliances over Iraq in 2002-2003 illustrates the former. But this crisis also led both sides to reassess the need to work together, and it triggered a new European initiative, which provides an interesting and innovative example for multilateral cooperation, both within the EU and beyond: the negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program. Those negotiations were initially conceived ...

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
United States prepares sanctions list in beef hormone dispute with EU.
Newspaper article from: Food Chemical News March 29, 1999 700+ words
...dispute with the EU over its banana...licensing system, the United States is threatening...scheduled between EU and U.S. trade...officials since the United States published the...In addition, EU Ambassador to the United States Hugo Paeman acknowledged...
United States, EU fail to agree on temporary compensation package in beef...
Newspaper article from: Food Chemical News April 26, 1999 700+ words
United States and EU officials last week...interim solution for the United States and would give the EU time to change its...retaliation for the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef from the United States. Claire O'Donovan...
EU Tells United States to Lift Trade Barriers or Face WTO Hearings.
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News November 21, 2002 700+ words
...available to comment on the EU's report. The United States has had its own issues with EU trade policy. U.S...resolution because of an EU moratorium on genetically modified crops. The United States has also filed WTO cases...
United States and EU sign wine trade agreement.
Newspaper article from: Food & Drink Weekly March 20, 2006 700+ words
...win-win situation for the United States and EU winemakers." "This agreement...sector." Wine exports to the EU from United States wineries have increased by...port, and champagne. The United States-EU wine agreement grandfathers...
EU head office seeks to salvage 'first-phase' open skies deal with United...
News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire July 20, 2004 700+ words
...declared treaties many EU member states have with the United States illegal because they...not only from the United States but other EU countries. In a statement...impact on airlines. EU countries must give the United States at least a year...
EU/UNITED STATES : GUANTANAMO DEBATE LIKELY TO GATECRASH TRANSATLANTIC SUMMIT.
Newspaper article from: European Report June 20, 2006 700+ words
...prove this at the EU-United States summit on 21 June...issue of energy. The United States and the EU are the world's...ever to protect the United States against all risks...visa regime, the EU demanding that all...
The Core of the Global Economy - The combined U.S.--EU gross domestic product...
Magazine article from: World and I SMYSER, WILLIAM RICHARD April 1, 2001 700+ words
...is a distant third. The United States and the EU are also the most important...Monetary Fund. Moreover, the United States and four EU members--France, Germany...cooperation between the EU and the United States moves so smoothly that it...
EU/UNITED STATES: CAUTIOUS STANCE ON RESUMPTION OF 'OPEN SKY' TALKS.
Newspaper article from: European Report October 19, 2005 700+ words
...member states and the United States overturned. The landmark...to be contrary to EU law owing to nationality...agreement between the EU and the United States - European carriers...agreement between the EU and the United States: provisions on state...
United States hails EU expansion, highlights business opportunities.
News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire April 29, 2004 700+ words
...of the aspirant EU members supported the United States, to the annoyance...close ties to the United States were not in contradiction with EU membership. "Those...Schnabel said the United States also backed plans for the EU to take in more...
The Turkey-EU-US triangle in perspective: transformation or...
Magazine article from: The Middle East Journal Onis, Ziya Yilmaz, Suhnaz March 22, 2005 700+ words
...triangle of Turkey-EU-US relations. While...acknowledging the role of the United States in promoting close links between Turkey and the EU, this study underlines...First, the role of the United States in promoting closer links between Turkey and the EU, both historically and...
For more facts and information, see all results

Source: HighBeam Research, Chapter eight: the mock turtle's story.(Great Powers in...

©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA