Terrence R. Guay - The United States and the European Union: The Political Economy of a Relationship

The United States and the European Union

The Political Economy of a Relationship

Terrence R. Guay

Copyright 1999 Terrence R. Guay

First published in 1999 in paperback by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd

This edition first published in the UK and USA in 2001 by
Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers

This edition published 2012 by Routledge

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Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record
for this book is available from the British Library

A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available
from the Library of Congress

ISBN 1-57958-324-5 Fitzroy Dearborn

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form

This book represents the culmination of several years' interest in, and research on, various aspects of US-EU relations. The approach taken in describing US-EU relations is a multidisciplinary one that incorporates my interests in political science, economics, history and geography. While I have enjoyed the opportunity to finally put a number of ideas about this subject into writing, it is left to the reader to determine the originality and usefulness of this approach. The themes presented here, and the final product itself, would not have been possible without the help of several motivating people. Over the past four years as a faculty member in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, I have taught graduate seminars on European Security, US-Europe Relations, and Europe and the World. The students in these classes challenged me to think more thoroughly about US-EU relations, and some of the discussions from these seminars are articulated in the following pages.

I would like to thank Rob Callum of the Center for Naval Analyses for reading earlier drafts of this book. His comments helped to sharpen some of my arguments and maintain a balanced perspective. Jenn Ezring saved me hours of research in the final weeks of the book's preparation. I am most grateful to Clive Archer, editor of this UACES series, for reviewing chapters and keeping me close to the production schedule. His comments, while numerous at times, have made this a much better book than I ever could have written on my own. Helpful as his editorial skills were, I am even more appreciative of his confidence in me to undertake this project.

A final note of thanks goes to my wife Pattie. She tolerated the late nights, weekends and long hours that I spent on the research and writing of this book. Her understanding and support are even more remarkable because the writing of this book overlapped the birth of our first child. In appreciation for the sacrifices she has made during this project on my behalf, this book is dedicated to her.

The aim of this book is to describe the evolution of the relationship between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), from the founding of the European Economic Community (EEC) and its sister institutions in the 1950s to the present day., this has begun to change somewhat since 1991, in what will be referred to as the post-Maastricht period, but economic issues continue to be the central component of the US-EU relationship.

Secondly, a focus on economic issues is perhaps what best distinguishes the US-EU relationship from a US-Europe relationship.2 Relations between the US and individual European countries preceded the founding of the EU's original institutions in the 1950s, and in many cases date to the founding of the US in the late eighteenth century. These relationships have had the formal characteristics of traditional diplomatic relations (such as an exchange of ambassadors, construction of embassies and negotiation of treaties), and in some cases (such as the Anglo-American special relationship) a more informal nature based on similar cultures, ideologies and national interests. Between the end of World War II in 1945 and the end of the Cold War in 1989, the relationship between the US and Europe was centred on political and military issues. The US and 13 West European countries, working through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), sought to prevent communism and a possible invasion by the Soviet Union from reaching Western Europe.3 With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and subsequent attempts by Eastern European countries to transform themselves into market democracies, security threats focusing on military invasion have subsided in Western Europe, and NATO has begun a long and painful process of redefining its mission. As NATO predominance in transatlantic relations has receded, the spotlight on the EU, and its role in economic issues, has become more intense. While the relationships that the US has with individual European countries have helped to shape US policy toward the EU, the focus of this book is on the US-EU relationship, not US-Europe.