Abstract:

The aim of this article is to assess the implications of the recent Iraqi crisis for American-European relations, the European Union’s evolving Common Foreign and Security Policy/European Security and Defence Policy and the future prospects for global governance. Accordingly, the first part of the article makes a critical analysis of Robert Kagan’s thesis about the growing power and ideological gap across the two sides of the Atlantic. It argues that the weakness of the European Union as an international security actor has been mainly due to a lack of ambition and sense of responsibility towards the outside world. After discussing the implications of the Iraqi crisis for an enlarging Union and its foreign and security policy, the article concludes that global stability lies heavily on the establishment of a constructive and cooperative transatlantic partnership. How has the war influenced the world? Are international relations, especially American-European relations, entered a new crisis period?

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