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Book
reviews and Notes The
Transatlantic Alliance under Review Nicole Renvert* * Nicole
Renvert is Director of the Transatlantic Project, Division of
International Relations, Bertelsmann
Foundation, Gütersloh. recensione.qxd
03/09/03 14.55 Pagina 1 The International
Spectator 3/2003 NATO,
the European Union, and the Atlantic community
: the transatlantic bargain recon- sidered
/ Stanley R.
Sloan. - Lanham, Maryland
: America by Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, c2002. - 304 p. - ISBN
0742517594 ; ISBN 0742517608 (pbk) Defending
Europe : the EU, NATO and the quest
for European autonomy / edited by Jolyon
Howorth and John T.S. Keeler. - New
York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. -
247 p. - ISBN 140396114X The new
order of international security structures
is faced with challenges that require
not only a thorough analysis, but a
rethinking of the existing instruments of
security and international security policy.
These two books successfully take on
this rather ambitious project with
sound arguments and even deliver something
like a catalogue of strategic suggestions.
Whereas Stanley Sloan focuses primarily on the
development of NATO’s archi- tecture
of security and its relevance as an
important platform for transatlantic relations,
the authors of Defending Europe provide a
broad, European-based analy- sis as
they chart the ESDI’s arduous path and the
new questions provoked by the eastern
expansion of the EU and NATO. Both
books are highly read- able,
well-researched and analytically cogent,
making them ideal textbooks for the study
of these issues. They are sure to be
popular within both the interna- tional
relations and academic communi- ties. Stanley Sloan’s underlying thesis is that,
through NATO, the transatlantic community
was able to create a politi- cally and
militarily unique foundation for
interaction that permitted the coor- dination
of European and American interests
via the necessary “deals and bargains”.
NATO’s role is therefore much more
than a political-military alliance.
As Sloan convincingly asserts,
148 The
Atlantic Alliance under Review NATO, for
all its cool and calculated pragmatism
in the name of national interests,
is at its core a community “with
roots in the hearts as in the minds of the
partners”. The end
of the Cold War as well as the new
threats posed by international terrorism
and weapons of mass destruc- tion have
forced this instrument of inter- national
security as well as other securi- ty
organisations to face the difficult prospect
of reconsolidation and the drafting of
a new transatlantic contract. The bases
for negotiations of such a treaty are
without doubt altered by the over- whelming
hegemonial power of the US. Because
objectives and priorities have changed,
the transfer of existing instru- ments and
policies to this new phase of international
cooperation is bound to be problematic.
The resultant imbalance, which is
sure to be further accentuated by the
challenge of international terrorism, can be
brought into balance only through a
reiteration and development of common values.
Sloan argues that in the long run, it is in
both American and European inter- ests to
reform existing instruments of security
policy to accommodate the new conditions.
In the
US, it is now widely recognised that the
strengthening of European instruments
of defence and security is essential
to the new order of interna- tional
security and that the Europeans must
assume greater responsibility in leadership.
Sloan is correct to argue that this
would embolden the EU pillars of government
while improving inter-insti- tutional
cooperation between NATO and the
EU. The events of 11 September have
created a new momentum in such strategic
discussions because questions of how to
confront international terror- ism and
the effects thereof have exposed numerous
fissures in the façade of a security
architecture undergoing a diffi- cult
process of consolidation and reform.
According to Sloan, what remains
vital is the political will to meaningfully
employ and therefore strengthen
NATO as an instrument of international
security policy and to prompt
Europeans to overcome their “capability
gaps”. Variations
of this argument are put forth by
the authors of the equally well- researched
and substantiated articles in Defending
Europe.
Certainly, the goal of European
autonomy in security policy has
turned out to be a prolonged and laborious
process. Yet, as the authors in this
collection assert, Europeans and Americans
continue to be dependent upon one
another because both must build
upon their common values to cre- ate a
global security order and processes of
democraticisation if they are to meet the
threats posed to communities of nation
states. The authors claim con- vincingly
that despite all the obstacles ballyhooed
during the unilateralism vs. autonomy
debate in transatlantic rela- tions, a
coordinated and goal-oriented European
security and foreign policy would
lead to the strengthening of the Atlantic
Alliance. Regardless of all the tension
put on the transatlantic structure recently,
the US and Europe will remain each
other’s most important partner. Both
books offer more than quick glances
at the difficulties in reshaping the
security architecture on both sides of the
Atlantic. They look closely at the recensione.qxd
03/09/03 14.55 Pagina 148
Nicole
Renvert 149 complexities
of such a project, mapping out
realistic future scenarios and offering potential
plans. The one
weakness that both books share is
the timing of their publication. The Iraq
debate, which continues to strain
transatlantic relations and has pro- voked a
deep identity crisis in the process
of inner-European unification, finds no
mention in either book, with the
unfortunate result that they run the risk of
seeming anachronistic, even though
they are nothing of the sort. Both
books make for good reading and are
recommended to those who wish to further
their understanding of contem- porary
transatlantic relations. Of partic- ular
interest in both are the strategic suggestions
which call for a future-ori- ented
policy on both sides of the Atlantic
and the creation of options at political
turning points. recensione.qxd
03/09/03 14.55 Pagina 149 |
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