Uncertain Transatlantic Relations: Domestic Challenges in Interconnected Spaces

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Transatlantic relations have entered a time of heightened uncertainty that is heavily driven by the rise of far right (populist) movements and parties who forcefully challenge democratic and liberal principles and institutions in domestic contexts and with a view to the Western-led international order.
This panel deepens our understanding of major building blocks of the evolving transatlantic political landscape in an important election year in both the U.S. and Europe. To this aim, it firstly emphasizes the domestic/international nexus in the study of the interconnected transatlantic political space(s) and secondly zeroes in on two interrelated dimensions than span transatlantic spaces: On the societal level, domestic and foreign policy effects of escalating polarization, disinformation, and threats to the rule of law are studied, also in regard to how non- governmental economic and political actors build, maintain or transform networks of cooperation. On the institutional level, the focus will be on the ways (inter)national institutions and administrative structures function under pressure from within and without. This includes explorations of whether and how they develop resilience and promote stability and cooperation to tackle domestic and global problems.
By identifying shorter- and longer-term as well as (inter)national trends, the panel provides clarity on the depth and breadth of current contestations particularly in the US, also as a steppingstone for further conceptualizations of effective countervailing measures and reimaginations. Each contribution speak to these overarching themes in individual ways that each contribute important conceptual and empirical advances of the threats from within.
Revisiting the concept of soft power in times of growing global uncertainty, Hendrik Ohnesorge and Michael Oppenheimer inquire into the ways the above severe challenges in the domestic political context affect the U.S.’s ability to project this particular foreign policy resource internationally.
Against the backdrop of these broader conceptual considerations, Melinda Haas presents an in-depth empirical analysis of the example case of domestic attitudes relating to – and potentially limiting – the (legitimate) use of force abroad in an increasingly volatile international context.
Maria Lindén then focuses on one particular domestic issue – election manipulation and delegitimation based on disinformation – and domestic action and institutions through which it was contained in 2020-2021. She discusses in what ways the identified potentials for administrative resilience against anti-democratic movements may be applicable to similar emerging risks in liberal democracies in Europe.
Looking at the domestic/international nexus from a different angle, Gordon Friedrich traces how recent complex and intersecting international crises have been processed by partisan actors in a way that defies traditional expectations of politics ending at the water’s edge and that has instead led to an intensification of politicization and division in the domestic political arena that may weaken American leadership.
Finally, Sarah Burns enriches our understanding of the links between (threats to) liberal democracy in the United States and abroad by employing a historical perspective. In particular, she identifies important similarities and differences in the frames and rhetorical tools applied during the early days of the Cold War and by the Biden administration to counter both simultaneously.

Sub Unit

• Division 17: International Collaboration

Individual Presentations

• Transatlantic Soft Power in an Age of Uncertainty: A Realist Reexamination - Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, University of Bonn; Michael F. Oppenheimer, NYU

• Proportionality and the Use of Force: International Law and Shifting Attitudes - Melinda Haas, University of Pittsburgh

• Defying Manipulation: Strategies for Electoral Resilience in the U.S. and Beyond - Maria Linden, Tampere University

• Biden's Quest for Leadership: Navigating Partisan Rifts in a Global Arena - Sarah Burns, Rochester Institute of Technology

• US Hegemony and Polycrisis: How Complex Risks Polarize Domestic Politics - Gordon Friedrichs, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Chair

• Julia Simon University of Bremen

Discussants

• Jakob Wiedekind University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Jordan Tama American University