Tweaking or Breaking of the International Order: Kissinger, Shultz, and Transatlantic Relations, 1971-1973

Abstract

This study analyzes the Nixon administration’s attempts to renegotiate the terms of the postwar international order, focusing on two events: the reform of Bretton Woods and the Year of Europe initiative. Through these two initiatives, Nixon and Kissinger sought to tweak economic and military arrangements between the United States and Western Europe, ultimately aiming to preserve the U.S.-led liberal order and the Atlantic alliance. However, a series of American foreign policies facilitated the disintegration of the postwar international monetary system and heightened transatlantic tensions. Henry Kissinger failed to address a value complexity problem in his new European initiative, sending confusing signals to Europeans. Moreover, George Shultz’s laissez-faire monetary policy undermined transatlantic efforts to reinstate Bretton Woods, exacerbating Europe’s skepticism about U.S. intentions. Convinced that Americans were building a new political-economic system in which they would predominate, Europeans accelerated efforts to strengthen their own economic and political integration. This research emphasizes domestic sources of strain in the Atlantic alliance and the liberal international order, with further implications for post-Trump U.S. foreign policy. It highlights the importance of ideological and leadership shifts, such as the rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s and the contemporary resurgence of nationalism. Also, it cautions that strategies to preserve the status quo can be interpreted as revisionist moves due to conceptualization and coordination issues in foreign policy decision-making. whether break it. A proper handling of value complexity and clear signaling of benevolent would be essential to reduce miscommunication among the allies. Secondly, this shows that domestic shifts contributed to the change in the fundamental character of the order. The Bretton Woods system embodied the principle of embedded liberalism which balanced a liberal market economy and welfare states. This study highlights how ideological and shifts in the States facilitated the evolution of the into a An interesting comparison