THE BIDEN DOCTRINE AND THE WAR IN UKRAINE: RENEWED TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS OR REATLANTISATION BETWEEN A STRATEGIC AND A SITUATIONAL PARTNERSHIP?

• Published in: Teorija in praksa Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 969 - 1027
• Main Authors: Picula, Boško, Luša, Ðana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ljubljana University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Autonomy; Biden, Joseph R Jr; Containment; Debates; Democracy; Foreign policy; International relations; Transatlantic relations; War; Ukraine
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• DOI: 10.51936/tip.59.4.969-988

The war in Ukraine is the most significant threat to the peace of the Euro-Atlantic area in decades. After 4 years of Trump's weakening of transatlantic relations, Biden's presumed foreign policy doctrine includes their quick renewal, or re-Atlantisation. The article problematises the 'new' strategy of containment given Russia's aggression, the state of transatlantic relations, and the current global order's configuration, whereby the transatlantic bond is being strengthened and the formation of Biden's foreign policy doctrine is beingfollowed by a 'grand-strategic' shift. Four different models of transatlantic relations (mutual autonomy, strategic autonomy, strategic partnership, situational partnership) are discussed where variables include the approach taken by the USA to transatlantic relations, and the approach of Europe's EU and NATO members to transatlantic relations are addressed. The main argument is that transatlantic relations during Biden 's mandate have constantly oscillated between a strategic partnership, especially related to common goals of democracy promotion and containment and situational partnership. Situations like the war in Ukraine have simultaneously acted to strengthen the American-European partnership based on the shared security and political interests.