News from Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Körber Policy Paper by Stephan Bierling: How Europe Can Influence World Politics in the 21st Century

Another essay in edition Körber Stiftung’s “Standpunkte” series is now available in English as Körber Policy Paper No. 5 (“The American Option. How Europe Can Influence World Politics in the 21st Century”). The author, Stephan Bierling, is Professor of International Politics at the University of Regensburg.

Bierling notes that Europe’s power is fading rapidly. Yet, Europe should actually be expanding its international role in the 21st century: Only active diplomacy, serious efforts to stabilize societies and military intervention can minimize the danger of the new threats such as international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. According to Bierling, this is only possible if Europe joins forces with the US, thus becoming its “junior partner.” Europe’s experience has shown that other options are not realistic–e.g. to expand the role of the EU or to form a coalition with another medium-level power such as Russia. He believes that the chances of reinvigorating the transatlantic partnership are currently better than at any time since the end of the Cold War. A new transatlantic deal could thus be agreed upon the following terms: Europe would support the US if the latter takes into account the former’s interests.

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