US-Europe relations - Essay Example

Introduction This paper demonstrates an insightful study of the Cold War and its impact on the growing relations between the United s and the Europe. Europe is considered to be one of the greatest allies of United States in the era of 'war on terrorism' first on Afghanistan and on Iraq. The Cold War played a great role in bringing the two countries together for their economic, geopolitical and security needs. While the Europe wants to remain as a close ally of United States, the United States wants to strengthen Europe to project the country as its strong global partner. Besides studying the impact of Cold War in shaping the economic, social and political relationship between United States and Europe, this paper also provides an overview to the background of the Cold War and the geographic and the strategic importance of the region for the United States and Soviet Union. The Cold War- An Overview The cold war was commenced in the late 1940s and ended in the late 1980s. The war broke out as an aftermath of the First and Second World War. Crockatt (1995) states that major cause behind the war was the increasing strength and dominance of United States in the global context after the First World War. The potency of United States and the continuing impuissance of Soviet Union Empire evoked a clash of two forces claiming to be super powers. The contentions between United States and Soviet Union erupted as the two countries began to perceive each others as enemies and competitors in global arena. After the First World War, the United States emerged as the global economic power and this continued to be a source of hostility on the part of the Soviet Union, which faced devastating consequences after the war. Gates (1996) propounds that the World War II further ignited the issue of dominance, which resulted into the debilitation of two giant global economic and geopolitical powers; British and French. Thus, as a consequence, the European rule came to an end and two new powers emerged on the global geopolitical screen; the United States and Soviet Union. The Second World War transformed the global geopolitical scenario as the two previous economic powers tumbled and two new contenders for global superiority emerged on the scene. Hence, the issues between United States and Soviet Union further aggravated and both the countries started to conspire against each other. European region was one of the regions in the world that attracted the grave attention of both the countries. Soviet Union faced imminent threats from the East European region with both the regions sharing the same borders. Leffler (1994) states that as the influence of Soviet Union grew into the East European region, the United States and Western European countries began to perceive it as a threat to their global dominance and security. Furthermore, the United States gave rise to policies curtailing the influence of Soviet Union in the region. In the same breath, the United states promoted its anti-communism policies in order to minimize the Soviet activities around the globe. In the Second World War, mass destructive nuclear weapons were used on the part of all the economic powers. It made other countries join the race for development in nuclear and missile technologies and considered it to be of significant essence to their security concerns. Kissinger (1994) illuminates that the Second World War, which led to the global competition for nuclear weapons, enhanced the potency of United States and accelerated the decline of Soviet Union as a global economic power. Having realized the pre-eminence of being an atomic power, the United States decided to strengthen itself as the giant nuclear power so as to maximize its influence globally. This was all the background of the consequences that led to the beginning of Cold War during 1940s, in which the United States and the Soviet Union remained as prominent players of the game. Walker (1993) expresses that the Cold War was permuted into a political war after the beginning of Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. At that time, the Soviet Union managed to confront United States in nuclear energy development but surrendered in front of the US arm power. As an aftermath of which, the Soviet Union broke after the Second World War making United States successful in becoming the sole global power in the world. Cold War And Europe Europe remained as an important region for both United States and Russia during the Cold War era because of its geographic and strategic importance. Hence the country underwent severe transformation during the war. The prominent reason behind this involvement of European countries into the war wrecked by the two emerging super powers of the world was that the Eastern parts of Europe shared borders with Soviet Union, which served the purpose of exploitation by enemies in the time of the First and Second World Wars. Therefore, this enhanced the geographic and strategic importance of the region for the Soviet existence. United states being aware of the fact exerted its influenced in the country to minimize Soviet dominance in the region. As a result of which some parts of the Europe allied with United States while some remained on the Soviet Union's side. In this stance of the European countries remained their national interests that were to be fulfilled as a result of the alignment with both the powers. The Cold War started soon after the World War II, and it was named so because both sides were so powerful as none could enforce a direct war against the other. The war was based typically on the democratic and communist ideologies exercized by both the countries. The Soviet Union had a massive influence over the East European region while the Western European remained on the side of United States. The Soviet Union enhanced the extent of its dominance over the Eastern part of Europe with a view to protect and secure its borders that were used during the war by its foes through the East Europe. The Western region, on the other hand, drifted on the side of United States in order to keep Soviet communism away from gaining influence in the region. Wallace (1990) propounds that Western Europe gained a lot out of the Cold War between United States and Soviet Union. They allied with United States that protected these countries from any perceived threats from any enemies thus reducing the expenditure on military and defense. Hence, the Cold War enhanced the economic collaboration and integrity within the Western part of the Europe. As the Europe broke into East and West demarcations, the Western region developed and enhanced its economic power over the Eastern part. Therefore, the Western European countries benefited a lot from their strong alliance and relationship with United States in the Cold war era. Impact of Cold War On US-European Relations The devastations of Soviet Union and ending of the Cold War has left the United States as the one and only super power in the world, all set to exert its influence at a global level. However, the Europe has also not remained the same as of the Cold War era particularly after the continuous integration of European countries into the European Union (EU) emerging as a strong contender for global economic power. The end of the Cold War has seen vital changes in the economic as well as political state of the European nations. These countries are coinciding with each other's stance for security and stability, while understanding the importance of integration and unification. The European countries have further strengthened their alliance with United States, and the governments of these countries are collaborating with each other in order to stabilize their relationships. The Cold War is said to have an eminent impact on the global political structure, particularly in the context of the US-European relationship. Despite the havoc wrecked over the European countries and their disintegration as a consequence of the Cold War, the Europe continues to remain a strategic ally of United States in the beginning of twenty-first century. The reason behind this staunch and long-lasting relationship is the fact that this alliance has gains and benefits to both the parties. Both the countries share strong ties of aligning and supporting each other in order to stabilize democracy around the globe, particularly in the East European region. Democracy tends to the major bonding force in the alliance of these two regions. As European countries emerge as powerful nations, the United States need to develop them as democratic countries in order to promote its global agenda for peace and democracy. This relationship is also owing to the people across the borders of these countries that are not willing to burst this relationship. These countries are also integrated with each other in terms of their cultural and social spectrum. Nye (2000, 55) describes this phenomenon as, "In the area of decision-making elites and culture, American foreign policy has always been strongly affected by the origins of Americans. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and it shows in foreign policy. The fact that even with the growth of Hispanic and other minority populations, two-thirds of Americans still claim European ancestry, continues to have an important effect on US foreign policy." Weidenfield (1999) illustrate that Europe and America are two countries the economies of which are closely knitted. The two countries are strengthening their relationships further on the trading grounds also with enhanced imports and exports across the borders. In the post-Cold War era, the trading activities between the two countries have continued to grow. As the apprehensions concerning US-European relations arouse as a consequence of the European integration and the introduction of Euro, both the countries, in particular the United States decline the influence that can be exercised by Euro over the importance of dollar in the global markets. The United States is also striving to strengthen and promote the NATO (i.e., the North Atlantic treaty Organization) established to emphasize the European security interests, which is playing a great role in further solidification of this relationship. Besides the growing economic and political collaboration of both the countries on the global panorama, it is also important to note that United States and Europe also share some contentious points as a result of their conflicting national interests. The major confrontation in this context is concerning the 'capitalism issues'. As the countries integrate each other more intensely into trading activities, charges arise from both the sides regarding competition and mal practice on the part of other party. Xichang (1992) exposes that France continues to envision the involvement of United states in the European affairs as well as in the global economic and political issues as US dominion and consistently promotes the pre-eminence of a Europe free from American influence. This supports the view that although United States and Europe have gone far way ahead in harmonizing their global economic and security interests, which these countries demonstrate on a variety of occasions, but there also happen to be some points where these countries cannot coincide or find it difficult to collaborate. As Walker (2000, 27) elaborates it, relations with the US always seem to reflect a mixture of fascination, sympathy, admiration and exasperation." However, the matter of the fact is that the post-Cold War era has seen dramatic improvements in the relations between United States and Europe as far as economic and security interests are concerned. Conclusion The above discussion reflects that the Cold War was started as the emergence of United States and Soviet Unions as global powers after the First World War. Both the countries were willing to exercise influence over the economic and political activities of the world, acting as global super powers. However, the victory goes to one who is the most powerful and the most dominant among all. United States remained dominant while Soviet Union tried to breathe its last by controlling the East European region. Consequently, the United States dominated the Western region of Europe in order to maintain the balance of power of disintegrated Europe. In the post Cold-War era, Europe has emerged as another economic power in the world however the country shares strong mutually beneficial relationship with United States that goes into the economic, political and security interest of both the countries. This is demonstrated in the European stance of alignment with United States in Afghanistan and Iraq war. To conclude, it can be said that both the countries have harbored a policy of remaining strategically aligned with each other as long as it fulfills the interests of both the countries. Works Cited Crockatt, R., "The Fifty Years War: The United States And The Soviet Union In World Politics, 1941-1991", New York: Routledge, 1995 Gates, R., "From The Shadows; The Ultimate Insider's Story Of Five Presidents And How They Won The Cold War", New York, Simon & Schuster, 1996 Nye J., S., Jr, "The US and Europe: Continental Drift", International Affairs, 76 (1), January 2000, p55 Kissinger, H., "Diplomacy", New York, Simon & Schuster, 1994 Leffler, M., "The Spectrum Of Communism: The United States And The Origins Of Cold War, 1917-1953", New York, Hill And Wang, 1994 Walker, M., "What Europeans Think of America", World Policy Journal, 17(2), Summer, 2000, p27 Walker, M., "The Cold War: A History", New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1993 Wallace, W., "Transformation of the Western Europe", London: RIIA, 1990 Weidenfield, W., "A Demanding Agenda for the New Europe", World Policy Journal, 15(4), Winter, 1999 Xichang Z., "French-US Relations in Transition", Foreign Affairs Journal, 26, December 1992 Read More