Trans?Atlantic Relations After the War in Iraq: Returning to ? or Departing from ? ‘Normal Politics'?

The Bush administration's foreign policy following the launch of the 'war on terror' has so fundamentally altered the traditional foundations for the transatlantic relationship that the latter's continued existence as a 'security community' may be at risk. Security communities need nurturing through a continuous process of socialisation from the leading state to other members in order to safeguard the essential 'glue' of the community: shared identity, values and trust. Such a process of patient socialisation and explanation of American foreign policies has been part of 'normal politics' since the establishment of the post-war liberal institutional order. The 'Bush Revolution', however, constitutes a

re-definition of foreign policy, that may be seen either as a return to or a departure from 'normal politics'.