ABSTRACT
Cultural transmission cultivated over time a broadly shared idea of “the West,” but how far common culture continues to bridge the Atlantic is debatable. As the Atlantic Community assimilates the fact that the world is no longer remotely molded in its own “Western” image, nor aspires for the most part to embrace its elemental values, at least not in the way these values have been fashioned from distinctive historic experience, these close neighbors are well enough disposed to affirm what they still hold in common as they respond to formidable challenges in a turbulent world. The cultural dynamics of Atlanticism endures, then, drawing on a shared past, though whether this will be quite enough to meet contemporary challenges, and in the process to provide effective leadership in a new international order remains to be seen.
