ABSTRACT
The Western alliance, writ large, is in trouble. Unquestionably, a primary element in the altered allied relationship is the significant change in the relative economic strength of the partners, the European Community's economy is now slightly greater or roughly equal to that of the US This chapter addresses the nature of this divergence and the views that support it among America's allies. Christopher Bertram, former head of the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies and now foreign political editor of Die Zeit, states that such 'quarrels are going to be more and more frequent and each time there will be more of an accumulation of ill will from the previous quarrels'. From an economic perspective, the leadership of Western Europe and Japan tend to consider trade with the East as mutually beneficial. From a political perspective, allied policies also differ from those of the US.
