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This article examines how, to what extent and why the European Union (EU) engages in cultural diplomacy (CD) vis-à-vis the United States (US). While providing an empirical review of and conceptual reflection on the current state of the EU’s (including key Member States’ (MS’)) CD efforts vis-à-vis the US, it also strives to explain the forms of this activity. It finds that a complex, multi-level, multi-actor, multifaceted and multipurpose EU CD in the US currently exists, which displays ‘diversity without unity’ and faces several incoherencies. This finding can be explained primarily by a latent competition for attention between EU MS. The article concludes by reflecting on how a more coherent EU CD could be achieved, thereby helping to reinvigorate EU-US relations.

This article explores the prospects for joint leadership by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) in an evolving multipolar world. Arguing that multipolarity leads to a highly differentiated global system, it conceptualizes global order as negotiated order revolving around issue-specific global governance arrangements subject to constant negotiation processes. In this context, transatlantic leadership depends not only on a US and EU willingness to lead individually and collectively, but especially on their capacity to define joint purposes and mobilize followers in issue areas relevant to global order. To test whether the two parties fulfil these conditions, the article first engages in a discourse analysis comparing US and EU leadership ambitions and visions of world order as expressed in their global strategies. US and EU rhetoric is subsequently compared to their (inter)action in the major global policy domain of climate change, focusing on the negotiations of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The article finds that opportunities for US-EU leadership generally exist, but that sustained future leadership will depend on renewed commitments and tend to be, rather than cross-cutting and relatively stable as during the Cold War, issue-specific and contingent, necessitating regular negotiation with other major global forces.

The creation of the Treaty of Lisbon sparked high hopes for a greater level of coherence within the application of European Union (EU) external policies. Now, more than two years after its entry into force, the question remains to what extent the Treaty actually succeeded in fostering greater external unity. Through a systematic analysis of EU and Member State actions in the areas of EU external energy and climate policies, both prior and immediately after the Treaty's arrival, this article aims to critically evaluate whether Lisbon is able to live up to the initial expectations.