Pax Transatlantica: America and Europe in the Post-Cold War Era.

• Author: Holm, Michael

Jussi Hanhimaki. Pax Transatlantica: America and Europe in the Post-Cold War Era. Oxford University Press, 2021. Xviii + 208 pages. Hardcover, $ 29.95.

To casual observers and persistent leftwing progressives or rightwing nationalists, the West is in decline. This sentiment is egged on by a chorus of politically inclined academics and journalists, many of whom appear ready to write the liberal world order's post-mortem. Even if inadvertently, this agenda often receives support from both Republican and Democratic officials who repeatedly decry European allies' lack of commitment to global security and condemn the E.U. for supporting unfair trade practices. In Europe, criticism of U.S. unilateralism in foreign affairs and Washington's failure to address climate change, provokes similar frustrations implying that the once solid transatlantic relationship is in disrepair if not beyond repair. This narrative of a weakened partnership is the target of Jussi Hanhimaki's brief but highly effective new book. A historian of international history and politics at the Graduate Institute Geneva, Hanhimaki in his familiar lucid style, argues that not only are transatlantic disputes hardly new, but they are also not nearly as fatal as the echo chamber of politics and media imply. The supposedly ever-imminent collapse of the West, he makes clear, is a much-overhyped phenomenon.

Bookended by a contextualizing introduction and an epilogue on the future of transatlantic relations, the book's core argument emerges through a careful examination of the twists and turns of U.S.-European affairs since the end of the Cold War. Chapter one examines the state of transatlantic relations after the collapse of the Communist bloc. It highlights that even if this was the beginning of an "age of post-ideological politics," (p.7) it was also a victory of diversity over uniformity. Despite frequent disagreements, there was more that united the West than divided it. The second chapter extends this conversation to security policy highlighting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) enlargement, its mission to counter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, and its growing involvement in de facto peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations from Kosovo to Afghanistan, and beyond. Chapter three, among the best of the book, highlights the extensive financials and trade connections that link the Atlantic world as well as the unifying importance of the collective accumulation...