Introduction

It would seem paradoxical that 2003, the most eruptive year in transatlantic relations since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, was also a year of crisis for the European Union, by many the anticipated successor to the transatlantic alliance. Tectonic plates are shifting. The cold warriors with their strong Atlantic orientation are giving way to a new generation of Europeans who hold the idea of “Europe” with the same esteem in their belief systems that “the West” had for the Cold War generation. The debate concerning whether to promote “multipolarity” or to defend “unipolarity” is in reality a debate concerning the internal organisation of the transatlantic West.