The US, ESDP and European Security: European Autonomy or Continental Drift?

The US approach to ESDP is a useful illustration of how American views towards European Security have developed since the early 1990s and since 9/11. From the outset successive administrations have been consistent in warning of the dangers of wasteful duplication, divisive discrimination and divorce inducing decoupling. To prevent such developments Washington instituted the Berlin plus framework institutionalising EU functional dependence and political deference. The NATO Reaction Force robs the Headline Goals of much of its purpose. Despite this, for Washington ESDP continues to subtract more than it adds to European security. As a result the US has changed its policy approach. The Bush administration’s tone has become emollient not because it has got its way but because it no longer considers this an important topic in its priorities post 9/11. As a case study then it illustrates the changing way in which Europe, European security and NATO are viewed in Washington. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]