Political Dimensions of the EC-US Relationship (Chatham House Papers) - Softcover

In the period 1989-91 Europe has undergone fundamental political change. Soviet communism has collapsed, the countries of central and eastern Europe have begun a process of reform, Germany has been unified and the European Community has set a course for monetary and political union. Less dramatic but no less important for transatlantic relations are the changes taking place in the United States. The US is left as the sole military superpower but has an economy facing major structural problems and in the process of relative decline. This volume considers what role the putative European Union will play in the international economic and political orders and how this influences and is influenced by US responses to the end of the Cold War and its own relative economic decline. Having set out these changes in the political environment, the volume then focuses on how European and American responses to them affect the transatlantic relationship. It concludes that a major reappraisal of this relationship is needed if it is to remain strong and vital throughout the 1990s.