In the past decades, the international world order and political balance in the West have been seriously shaken by the collapse of the Soviet bloc and globalisation, followed by the attacks of September 11 2001 and U.S. intervention in Iraq. This book reviews the slow and foreseeable process that resulted in the current dual crisis threatening the development of the European Union and the Atlantic alliance.

Laurent Cohen-Tanugi examines the key moments in European construction and in transatlantic relations during this decisive period. He provides a lucid testimony of the difficulties encountered by western democracies in exercising adequate collective leadership in a world in upheaval.

Laurent Cohen-Tanugi is an international lawyer. As an expert in European and international affairs, he contributes regularly to the French dailies Le Monde and Les Echos. He is the author of the highly successful Le Droit dans l'Etat, L'Europe en danger and Les Sentinelles de la liberté.