REVISITING EUROPE’S GEOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE AFTER THE UKRAINE CRISIS: AMERICA’S BALANCE OF POWER STRATEGY

Abstract

The unveiling of the economic crisis in Europe foregrounds the resurgence of geopolitics in transatlantic foreign policy analysis. With the EU project still at risk, a fragmented Europe allows Russia to gain ground and challenge the European power balance at large. We argue that the U.S. will seriously try to avert such a path and even loss of commitment towards further EU integration. In order to keep Europe united, we stress that the U.S. can exploit the Ukraine crisis by compelling Europe’s pivotal player (Germany) towards a European leadership fully committed to EU integration as its ideal option.

Keywords

• U.S. foreign policy
• European balance of power
• Germany
• Russia
• European integration
• Eurozone