The Transatlantic Relations and NATO: A Comparison between Bush and Obama Administration and its Impact on Iran

This article examines the security relations between Europe and the USA in the framework of NATO and during the Bush and Obama administrations. The author tried to show that the security relations between Europe and America started from the time of absolute dependence of Europe on Washington and, later on with the development of the European Union and also NATO, this dependence has gradually turned into mutual strategic cooperation. On the other hand, Europe attempts to form a defensive and security structure independently of the United States and mainly in the framework of NATO, which has led to an improvement in the defense treaties between the Eastern European countries. It seems that Europe seeks to play an equally important role to the USA and is using NATO as a powerful tool for this purpose. In fact, by developing its relations with NATO, the EU is trying to show the capabilities of Europe in crisis management and to make itself independent of the USA. However, America’s attitude towards NATO across the Atlantic is sometimes different, and conservative and democrat governments in America prefer either a mutual coalition or an American initiative.

Keywords:

European Union (EU) , United States of America (USA) , NATO , security relations , Strategic Cooperation