Hobbes versus Kant: οι διατλαντικές σχέσεις υπό το πρίσμα της αξίωσης για ηγεμονία: μια ιστορική και θεωρητική προσέγγιση

Abstract

The article discusses the wide known notion of ‘hegemony’ in the field of transatlantic relations. For over half a century, the close transatlantic relationship between Europe and the USA has provided an important factor of stability and predictability in global politics and international security. For most of this time, few mainstream political forces on either side of the Atlantic seriously questioned the need for a robust transatlantic alliance. Nonetheless, despite the density of political, institutional, economic and cultural bonds between Europe and America, there are growing indications of divergences between the two sides on a broad array of defense, trade and diplomatic issues. By using the comparison between Hobbes’s and Kant’s political thought, the author describes the historical and political evolution of Americans and Europeans and their particular attitude to world politics. It is argued that both Europeans and Americans, in different historical periods, assimilated authoritarian or hegemonic view of policy making. The Second World War that marginalised Europe initiated a significant trend in the international relations. The Europeans were made to turn their perceptions of war into a perception of order and peace, while the Americans (the victors of the Second World War as well as of the Cold War) developed a different viewpoint of international politics performing the Hobbesian philosophy of power and force of law.