Research Approach

The United States and Europe face a complex set of international economic, resource, political and security challenges at a time when domestic economic priorities dominate internal political debates and policymaking. The unsustainable combination of growing energy consumption, dependency on oil and gas imports, and intensified competition for ever-scarcer energy resources puts both sides of the Atlantic at risk of energy insecurity and supply failure. At the same time, new security issues have been raised by U.S. and European defense cuts, NATO’s new Strategic Concept, and in the EU’s Security Strategy Update of 2008. Making this worse, the ongoing financial crisis, austerity measures and increasing public pressure in the United States and the European Union are putting limits on national budgets and thus forcing trade-offs among crucial policy goals.

This two-year research and networking project will assess two key  priority areas of the transatlantic alliance. First, it will analyze EU and U.S. responses to major events with significant repercussions for regional and global energy markets, notably political turmoil in the Arab world and its impact on global oil markets as well as the impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on European electricity markets and energy security due to moratoria and/or phase-out of nuclear power in European countries. Second, the project will examine new security challenges raised by U.S. and European defense cuts. The project combines policy research with constructive and forward-looking transatlantic dialogue among researchers, industry experts and policymakers.

The findings from these two issue areas will be published through a series of policy papers.