ABSTRACT
The relationship between a forward-looking European Union (EU) engaged in an exceptional experiment and an overbearing America convinced of, and infatuated with, its own exceptionalism is increasingly strained. Despite extensive and deep-seated transatlantic affinities, the world’s two foremost liberal collectivities increasingly part company on what ways and means of conducting interstate relations are most appropriate. The EU’s pioneering experiment with institutionalism, constitutionalism, and transnational governance is little celebrated on the western shores of the North Atlantic. Instead, it is American exceptionalism that is celebrated, particularly by Americans of a particular persuasion but also by at least one Frenchman, Alex de Tocqueville, who is credited with coining the term. As practiced of late, an American exceptionalism which has long sought to set the United States apart has done just that. A wedge has been driven between the United States and the EU and its members, both collectively and individually, as well as between the United States and much of the rest of the world. The marked asymmetry of hard power resources it enjoys has enabled the United States to stand apart and go its own way. Doing so, however, has eroded its soft power. Consequently, a shift in the balance of soft power resources away from the United States and toward the EU is underway.
