Abstract

The 1990s showed an evolutionary change in the relationship between Europe and America. When the Cold War ended, the Europeans, who had thrived under the protection of the U.S. umbrella for almost half a century, started dancing to a different tune. Many European thinkers and the European political elite believed that Europe was evolving as a “postmodern,” “post-Westphalian,” or “post-nation-state” that would eventually become the vanguard of the future post-American international order. Many even started seeing themselves as inhabiting a Habermasian post-historical world, in which war has been rendered obsolete by the triumph of international “moral consciousness”. In this paper we claim that EU is strongly impeded by internal problems and this unavoidably works against any European ambition to play a bigger role on the world scene or obtain a global leadership role. EU is intrinsically vulnerable and Europe’s strategic dependence on the United States cannot be overstated. We argue that for Europe to become an important global player and remain in the center of world events its best strategy will be to strengthen the trans-Atlantic bond with the United States.