"The CFSP factor: A comparison of U.S. and French strategies"

Brenner, Michael. (2003) "The CFSP factor: A comparison of U.S. and French strategies" . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2003 (8th), March 27-29, 2003, pages 31, Nashville, TN.

Abstract

From all appearances, the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is a casualty of the events set in train by the events of September 11. The elusive unity of outlook among the fifteen, the necessary condition for an operative CFSP, was shattered by the sharp divisions over Iraq. Honest differences of interpretation and prescription have been exacerbated by the bitter exchanges and factional rivalries that dissolved any sense of communitarian spirit. The United Sates, for its part, has exploited the opportunity to pursue a strategy of divide and neutralize. Washington deployed its formidable instruments of influence to marshal support for its hard-line policy, forestalling the attempt by the French-German tandem to forge a common EU position to counteract American policy. Washington thereby also confirmed its declared aim to prevent the emergence of any power or bloc of states that could countervail the U.S. did not make an exception for the EU.