Politics and Populists

Chapter 4 examines the transatlantic political space, with special attention to the rise of populism. Particularly since 2016, analysts have been obsessed with the dawn of a new era of post-truth politics and illiberal democracy. Refusing such pessimism, the chapter asserts that the rise of transatlantic populism is part and parcel of the reshuffling of democratic politics after 1989, when labels like “left” and “right” no longer carried the meaning they once had. Moreover, the transatlantic nature of populism—like the rise of the so-called Third Way in the 1990s—speaks volumes of the degree of interconnectivity between Europe and America in the post–Cold War world. While each country’s domestic politics can be idiosyncratic, the “macro” trends have grown increasingly similar in the past three decades. There is, the chapter contends, a transatlantic political space in which ideas resonate and “travel” at increasing speed.

2020—Going Viral

The rapid spread of Covid-19 transformed lives all across the world, causing restrictions on individual liberties and cross-border movements. Transatlantic travel came to a virtual halt in the spring of 2020. The coronavirus caused a severe and rapid economic contraction. Its politicization exacerbated existing divides within societies and polities. Yet, in some ways the most surprising effect of the pandemic may turn out to be the limited impact it had on the structural bonds between America and Europe. Talk about NATO’s demise took a back seat and the momentum for increased transatlantic cooperation in science and innovation picked up. In November 2020, Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential elections—perhaps the most closely observed political event of all time—signaled a possible return to less divisive public discourse. Even when infected by a virus, Pax Transatlantica endured.

Guardian of Pax Transatlantica

This chapter focuses on NATO, the institutional core of Pax Transatlantica. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has enlarged its membership and ventured beyond its immediate neighborhood. Its significance as a security actor has been enhanced, not least because of the actions of the Russian Federation in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria. By 2020, NATO was bigger and more engaged than ever before, with military capacities that dwarfed those of any of its real or potential adversaries. Yet, the success story was hampered by widespread pessimism about NATO’s future on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, the post–Cold War era had seen numerous inter-alliance crises: the Iraq War of 2003 being the most obvious example. Nevertheless, three decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, NATO retained its function as the basic building block of Pax Transatlantica.

Epilogue

This chapter provides a brief overview of the aftermath of the 2020 US elections and how the Biden presidency is likely help reshape the discourse and substance of the transatlantic relationship. The chapter, however, also asserts that the end of the Trump presidency will not mean a sudden return to normality because there will continue to be tensions between the United States and Europe on a number of issues from trade to policy vis-à-vis China. Instead the paradoxical coexistence between cooperation and conflict––between substantial common interests and recurrent disagreements––that has characterized the transatlantic relationship since the end of the Cold War is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Pax transatlantica is likely to thrive for years to come.

Introduction

The Introduction outlines the basic paradox addressed in this book. On the one hand, transatlantic relations appear to be in a constant state of crisis; the “death” of the transatlantic partnership has been declared with confidence many times over. On the other hand, the links that bind the United States and Europe together—institutional, cultural, political, military—have so far prevailed. In short, the Introduction asks whether the transatlantic partnership of liberal democracies has become more fragile in the three decades since 1990? The Introduction foreshadows the major argument of the book: that the transatlantic relationship draws its long-term strength from the constant disagreements. Last, the Introduction outlines the book’s structure and defines the conceptual framework used.

Interdependence and Integration

The end of the Cold War and the increasingly rapid pace of globalization transformed the transatlantic economic community. This chapter will trace some of the major economic developments of the past three decades, including the impact of regional integration, the Great Recession of 2007–2010, the uncertainties produced by Britain’s decision to leave the EU (Brexit) in 2016, and the Trump administration’s apparent tilt toward economic nationalism. Yet, the history of the transatlantic economic space is also one of deeper interconnectedness and continued accumulation of wealth. After three decades of post–Cold War transformation, the transatlantic economy remains the cockpit of the global economy, the largest and wealthiest market in the world. Indeed, the ultimate paradox of the transatlantic economic relationship may well be that closer economic integration and interdependence has produced more transatlantic competition and closer scrutiny over the other side’s trading practices and labor standards.

Victory and the West

This chapter examines the state of transatlantic relations at the end of the Cold War. It takes particular issue with the notion that the Cold War had been a golden age of transatlantic cooperation. The Cold War had witnessed the emergence of a transatlantic community. But that community had been in a perpetual state of inner conflict and disagreement. NATO had almost fallen apart in the 1960s when France exited the alliance’s unified military command. Conflicts over burden-sharing and out-of-area engagements, over national subsidies and trade rules had been frequent. Before the Berlin Wall came down, the alliance had already survived, even thrived, through many internal crises. Paradoxically, when the Cold War in Europe ended, the “West” was at the same time more diverse and more united than at any time in the past.