After the Re-election of President Bush: An Outlook on Transatlantic Relations from a German Perspective; or, Why German-U.S. Relations Still Matter to the Transatlantic Alliance

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Abstract:

This analysis of transatlantic relations (with particular attention to the issue of Iraq) over the past several years will be a helpful step toward understanding on how willing U.S. allies may support U.S. policy in the larger Middle East, as well as in the continued project of nation-building in Iraq. To understand where transatlantic relations may be headed after the re-election of President Bush in November 2004, two years after the beginning of the war in Iraq, and more than three years after the events of September 11, 2001, the following issues are taken into consideration: the core challenges for the process of NATO transformation; how different EU member states conceptualize the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP); and how these different views of what the transatlantic Alliance have affected, among others, intra-European relations and Germany’s recent foreign policy. These issues in question are even more important given the last round of NATO and EU enlargement in 2004, a process that increased the number of countries that will be members of both organizations. These new member states are perhaps more likely to continue to be more supportive of a strong U.S. leadership role, both globally and within Europe.