ABSTRACT
The present study has traced American influence on European Union security policies and the evolving EU strategic culture from 1998 to 2004. This influence was often incoherent, unfocused and indistinct, yet highly effective. That is not to say that American decision-makers have found it easy to come to terms with the multi-purpose, multidimensional, semisupranational, semi-intergovernmental nature of the European Union. The relationship that binds the US and the EU is essentially a mismatch, in political discourse and practice, in manners of communication – and in terms of means and ends. This is not least a result of the “partial actorness” of the Union. During the period American attitudes to the EU as a foreign policy actor varied from guarded support to indifference to outright opposition – sometimes under the same presidency. One might say that a prevailing sense of two-mindedness pervaded American Europapolitik. The Washington consensus broadly favoured a greater role for the EU in regional and global security, yet at the same time ignored, patronised and, at times, undermined the specific attempts at common policies. This was especially the case when it seemed that European cooperation might call American leadership into question. The sense of entitlement to primacy ran counter to a gradual withdrawal not only of American armed forces, but also of political attention from Europe. In the case studies, we have seen how the US influenced EU decision-making through three primary mechanisms: bilateral multilateralism, incremental linkage and unilateral leadership. These American pressures were essential in shaping both the EU’s specific policies and its overall approach to security.
