Segurança e Defesa

Allied strategy and transatlantic relations, por Henning Wegener

There is an inseparable relationship between the allied strategy and its transatlantic dimension. In fact, one of the most vital tasks of the Alliance has been to maintain transatlantic cohesion, even more so since the strategic principle on which collective defence hinges is characterised by its basic structural unevenness. The strategy and its implementation mechanisms overcome this unevenness via the coupling of the two geographical parts of the Alliance together – the United States, on one side, and the European Allies, on the other – proving the necessity of a strategic and defensive unity of all Allies. Bearing in mind the indissociable character of strategic and political stability in transatlantic relations, the present study lays out some of the features which tend to confer the stability of both as well as the expected future challenges to it.