Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan

A Thorn in Transatlantic Relations

American and European Perceptions of Threat and Security

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Part of the book series: Governance, Security and Development (GSD)

  • 790 Accesses

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

About this book

Americans and Europeans perceive threat differently. Americans remain more religious than Europeans and generally still believe their nation is providentially blessed. American security culture is relatively stable and includes the deeply held belief that existential threat in the world emanates from the work of evil-doers. The US must therefore sometimes intervene militarily against evil. The European Union (EU) security culture model differs from traditional European iterations and from the American variant. The concept of threat as evil lost salience as Western Europe became more secularist. Threats became problems to manage and resolve. The upsurge in anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner sentiment in the midst of economic crisis undermines this model.

Similar content being viewed by others

Keywords

Table of contents (6 chapters)

Reviews

"Professor Hampton has long been one of the most thoughtful and perceptive observers of America's security relations with Europe. In this wonderful book, Hampton provides a searching exploration of the cultural roots of Atlantic security cooperation and discord, focusing on divergent American and European historical experiences, ideological foundations, and secular-religious cultural identities. Along the way, Hampton offers a vivid and penetrating glimpse into the 'soul' that both unites and divides the West." - G. John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University

"In this masterful book, Mary Hampton provides a fascinating account of how religious and secular worldviews underpin strategic culture in the United States and Europe. It will be difficult to view transatlantic relations in the same manner after reading this book."

Giacomo Chiozza, author of Anti-Americanism and the American World Order

About the author

Mary Hampton is the Associate Dean of Academics (DEA) at Air Command and Staff College (ACSC), Maxwell AFB.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us