Contenu du sommaire : L'avenir de l'alliance Euro-américaine

Transforming NATO. While the normalization of France's military position within NATO has been ushered at the Strasbourg-Kehl Summit, it is now time to update NATO's strategic concept. Renovation or revolution? The question is important to tackle, as strategic visions across the Atlantic might differ on its future. How can we give a common new meaning to an old alliance which achieved its initial mission and now faces a much more complex world characterised by uncertain balances and diversified instruments of power?

Towards a Transatlantic Strategic Council?
A new transatlantic relationship and security structure for all of Europe is long overdue. The first steps of an overhaul in the structure of European security are presently taking place with France's re-integration into NATO's military command. But much more needs to be done to bring both the European Union and Russia into a closer association with the US and NATO — particularly given Russian demands for a new pan-European security order. The formation of a Transatlantic Security Council (TSC) to better coordinate the “double enlargement” of NATO and the European Union is absolutely crucial — in order to find ways for the US and Europe to engage more closely with Russia.

The process of enlargement has been central to NATO's effort to reinvent itself following the end of the Cold War. Through enlargement, the Alliance has sought to expand the Euro-Atlantic security community, and in so doing to help project stability in the former Communist bloc. The process of enlargement has been greeted with significant enthusiasm in many circles in Central and Eastern Europe—but has generated deep resentment in Russia. After many years of tense relations, in recent years some hope has been expressed that a genuine partnership with Russia could emerge. As I suggest in this paper, however, the process of redefining NATO-Russia relations is likely to be more difficult than some international relations experts would like to suggest. While cooperation with Russia on particular issues of mutual concern is necessary and, indeed, possible, substantial differences and disagreements between NATO and Moscow are likely to persist.

Europe in NATO. The end of the Cold War has profoundly altered NATO's mission since it has now become an alliance devoted to “crisis-management”. Its identity as a “western” military organization, however, hasn't been modified. What has changed within NATO is the increased dependency of Europeans on the ever-growing American military might. Even though the European Union has gained credibility in the field of security and defense, it is still largely dependent on NATO and American policies. The EU remains, however, the only existing “European Caucus” with a potential for developing a European identity in the field of security and defense.

NATO's Counterinsurgency Efforts in Afghanistan
Despite NATO's difficulties to obtain additional troops from its European allies, the principle of counterinsurgency is now commonly adopted among the members of the Alliance. Nevertheless, NATO's mission is rendered even more complex by its internal disparities and the difficult task of consolidating the Afghan state while faced with an increasingly aggressive armed opposition. This article questions whether a hypothetical “Obama effect” might—or not —impact this situation, as NATO finds itself engaged in Afghanistan in the decade to come.

NATO and the EU: Moving Away from Multi-polar Policies
Since NATO's founding, the tension between Atlanticist and Euro-centric philosophies has been a predictably troubling feature of transatlantic relations, but perhaps never more problematic than in the past decade. Now, with new leadership in Paris and Washington, NATO and European Union members have an opportunity to move past those tensions to make the EU and NATO work more effectively together. EU members need to ensure that the EU is a constructive “pillar” for the Atlantic community rather than a competing “pole” in international relations. Failure to do so could contribute to a potential disaster in Afghanistan/Pakistan and pose a serious impediment to the process of European integration as well as transatlantic cooperation.

The Crisis and the Third American Revolution
This article deals with the economic reforms initiated by the Obama White House. The author first explains what the American specificities are in economics. The emphasis on deregulation and individualism became especially center stage back in the 1980s under Reagan. The argument here, however, is that the government is back: the stimulus plan adopted by Congress in the winter of 2009 may potentially alter in a significant way the social and economic balance inherited from the 1980s.

Obama Confronts the Crise
So far Barack Obama has met both the short and long term challenges of the economic crisis. The stimulus plan, the housing market measures and the struggle against toxic assets all seem to be appropriate responses to the meltdown in the short run. Despite early signs of recovery, however, it is too soon to know whether these decisions will prove successful in the end. For instance, the current budgetary decisions are not sustainable. The Obama administration tries to anticipate criticism by promoting an ambitious agenda for reform based on improved financial regulations and an emphasis on a “green” economic growth.