Transatlantic co-operation in Flux: The Biden administration and the EU’s ambition to develop ‘strategic autonomy’

The existing liberal world order is under pressure and with it, transatlantic cooperation on security is challenged. The paper raises the question, what have been the European reactions to recent changes in global power relations and not least what have been the European reactions to the foreign policy initiatives of presidency Joe Biden? The paper also asks, why have the European steps been so limited and groping towards developing its ambition of establishing ‘strategic autonomy’. Most obviously, the challenges to the existing world order are related to the conspicuous rise of China but, they are also linked to the state of the American society and to the direction of its foreign policy. The paper focuses on American policies towards China in the Indo-Pacific under the Biden administration. The transatlantic cooperation on security was challenged by the US unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan, the negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal and not least the cooperation within NATO was challenged by the assertive Russian behavior along the Ukrainian border. The American inaction towards the Israel-Palestine challenged the European Union and its ambition to develop strategic autonomy. A theoretical framework combining neo-classical realism and liberal intergovernmentalism is applied.