Western Europe and the Challenge of the "Unipolar Moment": Is Multipolarity the Answer?

Authors

  • David G. Haglund Queen's University

Abstract

There have been few more controversial statements made in recent debates about American foreign policy than the assertion that America and the world have been experiencing, since the ending of the Cold War, a "unipolar moment." To some, this holds out the prospect for a structuring of the international system according to American preferences for "ordered liberty." Others see in the mooted unipolar moment great peril, and little promise; for them, it simply constitutes a way of masking the dangers of "hegemony" and even "empire." Some of the most vociferous of the critics are to be found among America's transatlantic allies, and above all, in France. It is often said in French circles that "multipolarity" can be the only cure for the ailments of a unipolar system. This article examines that claim, and concludes that notwithstanding the rhetoric and logical implications of multipolarity, there is no evidence that the Western Europeans as a group are "balancing" against the United States, or even that they wish to balance against it.

Author Biography

David G. Haglund, Queen's University

David Haglund is the Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Studies at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario). After receiving his Ph.D. in International Relations in 1978 from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C., he assumed teaching and research positions at the University of British Columbia. In 1983 he came to Queen's. From 1985 to 1995, and again from 1996 to 2002, he served as Director of the Queen's Centre for International Relations. He has held visiting professorships in France and Germany. His research focuses on transatlantic security, and on Canadian and American international security policy. Among his books on transatlantic security are Alliance Within the Alliance? Franco-German Military Cooperation and the European Pillar of Defense (1991); Homeward Bound? Allied Forces in the New Germany (1992, co-edited with Olaf Mager); >From Euphoria to Hysteria: Western European Security After the Cold War (1993); The "New Peacekeeping" and European Security: German and Canadian Interests and Issues (1995, co-edited with Hans-Georg Ehrhart); Will NATO Go East? The Debate Over Enlarging the Atlantic Alliance (1996); Pondering NATO's Nuclear Options: Gambits for a Post-Westphalian World (1999); and Security, Strategy and the Global Economics of Defence Production (1999, co-edited with S. Neil MacFarlane). His most recent monograph is entitled The North Atlantic Triangle Revisited: Canadian Grand Strategy at Century's End (2000). His most recent edited books are New NATO, New Century: Canada, the United States, and the Future of the Atlantic Alliance (2000); The France-US Leadership Race: Closely Watched Allies (2000); What NATO for Canada? (2000); and Over Here and Over There: Canada-US Defence Cooperation in an Era of Interoperability (2001).

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Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2004): Summer 2004

Section

Articles