EC-US relations in an era of interdependence: US impact on EC policy-making in the framework of the completion of the single european market

Abstract

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the impact of the US on EC policy-making in the context of the completion of the Single European Market. The main argument of the thesis has been that EC-US relations can be better understood when set against the highly interdependent international system of the 1980s and 1990s. The analytical framework established recognizes the need for an explanation of EC-US relations in the late 1980s, to be placed within the logic of 'complex’ interdependence - as it has been developed by Keohane and Nye. In that context, the study attempted to evaluate 'interdependence', by examining the extent to which EC policy-making in the framework of the completion of the Single European Market has been, partly, the result of US influence and pressure. The nature of interdependence means that the value of sectoral case studies is high. Case study research leads to a better understanding of the EC-US interactions. In that framework, three case studies were undertaken. The analysis after having examined the US reaction to the SEM programme in general, focused in three policy areas in which the EC-US interplay has been distinct: broadcasting, telecommunications, and the Uruguay Round trade negotiations (the dispute over farm subsidies). The empirical investigation was based on personal interviews obtained from EC Commission and US Mission officials in Brussels, as well as on official EC and US documentation. The contribution of the interdependence 'logic' to the studyof EC-US relations is that it frames EC foreign policy activity in an international context, by emphasizing the importance of change at an international system level. At the same time, viewing EC-US relations through the interdependence prism means that the significance of the multiple actors affecting the EC and the US in their interplay, as well as stressing the importance of multiple channels of contact and influence, and the high levels of mutual sensitivity to each other’s actions is more easily identified. However, while the concept of interdependence provides the overriding explanatory framework, moving to a micro-level analysis, its lack of parsimony calls for a multidimensional approach. Therefore, trade disputes in different areas may be judged against the specificity of neo-vriercantilist propositions.