La “relazione speciale” tra Stati Uniti e Gran Bretagna

The special relationship between the United States and Great Britain is historically unique. This specialty is inherent in the role played by the two countries in the evolution of the international system. Just as the architecture of the current global system is an Anglo-American legacy of the Second World War, the Atlantic Alliance emerged thanks to the US-UK special relationship. The Anglo-American relationship was also the driving force that pushed NATO to evolve during the Cold War. Relations between the US and Britain in the bipolar era saw the prevalence of American interests over British ones. London, however, chose to play the role of junior partner alongside the American superpower. If US military pre-eminence within NATO is well-known, British contributions tend to be underestimated. The special relationship played a key role in the good functioning of the Alliance also in the post-bipolar era, in particular for the transformation of NATO and in the framework of the War on Terror. The current importance on the international scene of the Anglo-American bond has declined compared to seventy years ago. The recently-proclaimed Global Britain is a regional power, at best with global interests, while Europe is no longer the heart of the American strategic interest. But the author still maintains that NATO remains the pillar of the transatlantic security, which is not divisible into a multipolar world where the concept of the West is in trouble before the assertive emergence of other actors.