by Timothy Moreland

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: May 01, 2008

Following the Cold War and intensifying in the post 9/11 world, Europe and the United States are headed down different paths. Europe belongs to a softer world of international law, diplomacy, welfare states, and peace. The United States, on the other hand, remains in the land of hegemony, unilateralism, free markets, and war. Few people are likely to doubt that Europe and the U.S. are very different. Many may even concede, as does Robert Kagan, that these differences are "deep, long in development, and likely to endure." However, while the United States and EU are indeed diverging, this divergence will not be permanent and is occurring in order for the EU and U.S. to ultimately converge in a "European" world.

In order to get a taste of the divide between America and the EU, one must look no further than public opinion polls. At their extreme, Germany and France are the major pulling force in the divergence, with one European Public Opinion poll showing that 74% of Germans and 69% of French citizens believe the United States are having a mostly negative impact on the world. Even a less contentious country such as Italy has 47% of the population with this same view. In a poll of European countries' "warm, favorable feeling" toward the United States, the U.K. led the way with a 57% (on a scale of 0 (cold) to 100 (warm)). While a 57% is technically a favorable rating, one would imagine the United States' closest ally in Europe should have more than a borderline lukewarm feeling toward them. On this side of the Atlantic, more Americans strongly disagree with the statement "Europe is having a mainly positive influence in the world" than those that strongly agree. In general, 41% of Americans say that they "do not understand current events in Europe." There seems to be neither an enthusiasm for Europe's role in the world, nor a particularly strong interest in the EU. All of these public opinion statistics point toward a divide between the cultures and views of the U.S. and EU.

As the public opinion displays a fissure in the Transatlantic relationship, the countries' governments exacerbate the divide. Take the issue of trade and regulations as one example. The EU has done its best to keep American genetically modified foods out of Europe, in spite of no scientific backing. The impact to the U.S. farming sector of restrictions on GM foods is substantial. One third of American farming acres are intended to grow crops to be exported. A large percentage of those crops

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