Europe Without America?: The Crisis in Atlantic Relations

Europe's confidence in America has eroded dramatically in the last decade. Nixon's monetary policies of the 1970s, the huge American deficit, and the recently imposed protectionist measures which threaten an all-out trade war have had a devastating effect on European attitudes toward America, as have Reagan's Star Wars program and his foreign policy. Indeed, as John Palmer points out, the Atlantic Alliance is facing a major crisis which may force America to withdraw from Europe. Can this crisis be headed off? And if not, what must Europe do to prepare for the future?
Europe Without America is the first book to explore this crisis in detail, examining European attitudes toward American superpower politics and outlining the choices facing Europe in a rapidly changing world. Palmer discusses the American economic, political, and security policies that fueled the growing disenchantment in Europe...explores the causes of Britain's decline to one of the weakest economies in western Europe...traces the history of Eastern Europe since World War II, and shows how individual countries in the Communist bloc are now bypassing COMECON to trade directly with the West...and evaluates the failure of the European Community to form a united Europe that could stand on an equal footing with America and the Soviet Union. These developments pose enormous dangers, but also offer exciting new opportunities: will the world split up into increasingly protectionist and antagonistic states, or will a new European unity emerge, embracing not only Western Europe, but also Europe east of the Iron Curtain?
As Palmer points out, there has been very little public debate about the kinds of political, economic, and security policies Europe would need in the wake of an American withdrawal. In his trenchant and thought-provoking analysis, he enumerates the options available--and challenges Europeans to begin thinking now about their future without America.