INTL 101: INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL POLITICS Week 5

1. INTL 101: INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL POLITICSWeek 5 Should the United States Continue to Encourage a United Europe?

2. LECTURE CONTENT 1. Key Concepts and definitions 2. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe 3. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe

3. Key Concepts • Cold War– A geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between a worldwide military alliance of capitalist states led by the US and a rival alliance of communist states led by the Soviet Union. It lasted from about 1947 to the period leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. • OSCE –Created as an East-West forum during the Cold War era, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE) is today very much an operational international organization for securing stability, based on democratic practices and good governance.

4. Key Concepts • Transatlantic Relations-refers to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically between the United States, Canada and the countries in Europe. • Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) - is a term used to describe munitions with the capacity to indiscriminately kill large numbers of human beings. The phrase broadly encompasses several areas of weapon synthesis, including nuclear, biological, chemical, and increasingly radiological weapons.

5. Key Concepts • Dayton Accords- is the name of the peace agreement reached in 1995 at an air force base near Dayton which puts an end to the three and a half year long war in Bosnia. The official name of the Dayton Accords is “the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina” • Good Friday Accord – is an agreement signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by the voters of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in separate referenda on 23 May 1998.

6. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • Elizabeth Jones, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, argues that a United Europe is vital to America’s national security in the aftermath of September11th.

7. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • Following September 11th the European partners of the United States offered critical assistance in military deployments to various conflict areas, such as Afghanistan. • US and its European partners are taking joint actions against terrorist organizations. They are cooperating on nonproliferation, intelligence sharing, asset freezes and uprooting terrorist networks.

8. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • The US and EU economies are increasingly integrated and such a transatlantic trade consolidates all aspects of relationship between US and Europe, including security. • In the Aftermath of September 11th, NATO turned out to be the cornerstone of transatlantic security and continued terrorist threats have underlined the need for NATO to improve its ability to meet new challenges to the ‘common security’ of EU and the US.

9. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • Jones thinks that NATO remains the only institution that can unite the continent in security cooperation and its enlargement will reinforce the strength and cohesion of states committed to US values. • Europe should be “whole, free and at peace”.

10. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • The US continues to support a European Security and Defense Policy because this strengthens NATO while increasing the EU’s ability to act where NATO is not engaged. • There is a need to create more stable, democratic and prosperous Southeast Europe for a united, free and peaceful Continent. Corruption, insufficient border controls and week export control in Southeast Europe contribute to the trafficking in arms, drugs and people and threaten the global counterterrorism efforts of the US.

11. Argument in favor of United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • Jones furthermore states that a united Europe requires the resolution of regional conflicts in the Continent and neighboring Eurasia.For that reason the US supports the Dayton Peace Accords, Good Friday Accord and progress in Cyprus talks. • Another vital element in the US engagement with Europe is the OSCE. This institution is for upholding democracy, human rights and the rule of law and it can encourage European and Eurasian countries to adhere to the principles of UN Resolution on the war against terrorism. • In this respect, encouraging a united Europe will enhance the transatlantic relationship and American security.

12. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • John C. Hulsman argues that the European constitutional process endangers transatlantic relations and American interests. • The US should support the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) only if NATO remains the primary transatlantic security organization.

13. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • The failure of a constitutional process outlining the future of a Common European Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) may paralyze defense policymaking in Europe which would create new dangers for the US security policy. • Hulsman argues that the European federalist efforts to establish a European Defense identity are separate from and in competition with NATO. • Despite the fact that Berlin-Plus agreement contributed transatlantic security and defense relationship, it is now called into question by Franco-German efforts to establish a separate EU headquarters and planning structure in the context of Common Defense Policy.

14. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg advocated the establishment of an independent EU military headquarters with an independent planning capacity. Hulsman considers this initiative as an institutional expression of French political desires to lessen the American role in Europe.

15. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • In the European constitutional process, the UK facilitated a compromise in which the ESDP will work on projects only when NATO decides not to intervene in a crisis and it retains “the first right of refusal” in a crises situation. • The US should make it clear that the constitutional convention will change political relationships, both within the EU and between the EU and the US.

16. Argument against the United States’ policy of encouraging a united Europe • The US should not accept the NATO-ESDP compromise discussed in the EU constitutional process unless the operational lines of control are defined openly. • Hulsman suggests that the US should express its opposition to the formation of a separate EU headquarters which would lessen the authority of NATO in Europe.