Rejuvenating transatlantic strategic culture: Towards a new Atlanticism

Abstract

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic new questions are being raised about how the transatlantic alliance can survive, adapt and evolve to meet the challenges of an increasingly turbulent century. NATO has initiated the NATO2030 process, a timely re-evaluation of its role in international affairs, and the European Union is implementing a range of new defence initiatives (EDF, PESCO, CARD) as well as developing a ‘Strategic Compass’, which aims to forge a common threat perception across the EU membership. A renewed focus on strategic culture undergirds these new initiatives. In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to develop a common strategic culture underpinned by new capabilities.² More recently, HR/VP Josep Borrell has called for a “shared strategic culture and empathy to understand the different points of view” of EU member states,³ and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “I believe we also need a PESCO in foreign policy – and a common strategic culture. There is no military short-cut to a sustainable order of peace.”⁴ In the 2020 Annual Report on CSDP, the European Parliament (EP) argued that, in order to achieve strategic autonomy, the EU needed to forge “a genuine strategic culture” by developing “adaptable, modular instruments which help bring strategic cultures closer together.”⁵