Professor Richard G Whitman and Professor Doug Stokes have had their article entitled ‘Transatlantic triage? European and UK ‘grand strategy’ after the US rebalance to Asia’ published in the September edition of the prestigious International Affairs journal. http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/ia/archive/view/194079
Transition in the Middle East, the ongoing effects of the global financial crisis and the United States’ rebalance to Asia are key trends that will have an impact on transatlantic relations and European defence. As US priorities shift, a common European ‘grand strategy’ could encourage the development of a shared vision to help Europe order its priorities and begin to respond to the new, post-austerity context of world politics and shrinking defence budgets.
Will these changes be enough to quicken Europe’s currently shrivelled strategic thinking? In any scenario, given its relative weight and role as an interlocutor with the US, the United Kingdom will remain vital to any developing European security and strategy agenda, although its broader relations with the European Union will complicate this relationship. How it proceeds will also help to define the boundaries of this nascent European security order.