Abstract
By the 1990s, the United States and the European Community (EC, later ‘European Union’) had arrived at a new juncture in the history of their partnership. Within their own domain, the United States and the EC are profoundly interdependent. Bilateral trade and investment, and the sales generated by investment, top $1 trillion annually and provide 6 million European and American jobs. Bilateral relations are also distinguished by political components: collective self-defence through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and similar commitments to political pluralism and market economics. At the same time, relations are often marked by contrasting positions on many major international and bilateral issues. Overall, the partnership is of immense value to both Americans and Europeans; yet in the 1990s, the United States and the EC have reached a new plateau in their bilateral relationship. No longer is the United States a hegemon with the EC orbiting in its sphere. Best described as a post-hegemonic and complex interdependent relationship, the US and EC have entered the 1990s on a much more equal basis with important implications for the future of their international relations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Baldwin, Robert E., Hamilton, Core B. and Safir, André (eds) (1988) Issues in US-EC Trade Relations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Barnet, Richard J. (1983) The Alliance: America, Europe, and Japan (New York: Simon and Schuster).
Bull, Hedly and Louis, William R. (1986) The Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations Since 1945 (Oxford: Clarendon).
Calleo, David (1987) Beyond American Hegemony: The Future of the Western Alliance (New York: Basic).
Freedman, Lawrence (ed.) (1983) The Troubled Alliance: Atlantic Relations in the 1980s (New York: St Martin’s).
Frellesen, Thomas and Ginsberg, Roy H. (1994) European Union- United States Relations in the 1990s: Elements of Partnership (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies).
Ganz, Nanette and Roper, John (eds.) (1993) Towards a New Partnership: US-European Relations in the Post-Cold War Era (Paris: Institute for Security Studies).
Gill, Stephen (ed.) (1989) Atlantic Relations: Beyond the Reagan Era (New York: St Martin’s).
Gilpin, Robert (1987) The Political Economy of International Relation (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Ginsberg, Roy H. (1989a) Foreign Policy Actions of the European Community: The Politics of Scale (Boulder: Lynne Rienner).
Ginsberg, Roy H. (1989b) ‘United States-European Community Relations’, in Juliet Lodge (ed.) The European Community and the Challenge of the Future (New York: St Martin’s).
Hanrieder, Wolfram F. (1989) Germany, America, Europe (New Haven: Yale University Press).
Harrison, Glennon (ed.) (1992) Europe and the United States: Competition and Cooperation in the 1990s (Washington: Government Printing Office).
Harrison, Martin M. (1981) The Reluctant Ally: France and Atlantic Security (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).
Hogan, Michael J. (1987) The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–52 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Inglehart, Ronald (1990) Cultural Shifts in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Kaplan, Lawrence S. (1988) NATO and the United States: The Enduring Alliance (Boston: Twayne).
Kennedy, P. (1987) The Rise and Fall of the Great Power: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 (New York: Vintage).
Keohane, Robert O. (1984) After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Langer, Peter H. (1986) Transatlantic Discord and NATO’s Crisis of Cohesion (Washington: Pergamon-Brassey’s).
Lepgold, Joseph (1990) The Declining Hegemon: The United States and European Defense, 1960–90 (New York: Greenwood, 1990).
Lucas, Michael R. (1990) The Western Alliance After INF (Boulder: Lynne Rienner).
Milward, Alan S. (1984) The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945–51 (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Nau, Henry R. (1979) ‘From Integration to Interdependence: Gains, Losses, and Continuing Gaps’, International Organization, vol. 33, no. 1 (winter) pp. 119–47.
Nau, Henry R. (1990) The Myth of American Decline (New York: Oxford University Press).
Ninkovich, Frank A. (1988) Germany and the United States (Boston: Twayne).
Nye, Joseph S., Jr. (1990) Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power (New York: Basic).
Palmer, John (1987) Europe Without America?: The Crisis in Atlantic Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Peterson, John (1993) America and Europe in the 1990s: The Prospects for Partnership (London: Edward Elgar).
Smith, Michael, Western Europe and the United States: The Uncertain Alliance (London: Allen and Unwin).
Smith, Michael and Woolcock, Stephen (1993) The United States and the European Community in a Transformed World (London: Chatham House).
Tsoukalis, Loukas (ed.) (1986) Europe, America, and the World Economy (Oxford: Blackwell).
Wallace, Helen, Wallace, William, and Well, Carole (eds) (1977) Policy-Making in the European Communities (New York: Wiley).
Woolcock, Stephen, Hart, Jeffrey, and Van der Ven, Hens (1985) Inter-dependence in the Post-Multilateral Era (Lanham: University Press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1996 Kevin Featherstone and Roy H. Ginsberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Featherstone, K., Ginsberg, R.H. (1996). Introduction. In: The United States and the European Union in the 1990s. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24255-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24255-9_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-52347-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24255-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)