City Research Online

Abstract

Transatlantic relations form a key case study for the development of global challenges, as a major platform of experimentation. Yet across administration shifts, it mostly provides historical evidence of ‘law-light’ ‘institution light’ commitments to bilateral law-making. The framing of institutions therein has appeared increasingly dominated by informality on account of decades of complex yet consistently failed experimentations in global governance. Parliament and Civil society have historically been excluded, on both sides of the Atlantic, but acutely in the European Union (EU). Constitutionalisation (with a small ‘c’) of EU-Unites States (US) transatlantic relations has manifold benefits for democracy. Trade and Technology are now viewed by the EU and US as the lynchpins of solutions to global challenges- yet through soft law and institution-lite fora. The chapter considers the evolution in place of soft law and institutions in transatlantic cooperation, the place of multilateralism and international law within this framing as executive to executive engagement, even in the new EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) as a significant form of constitutionalisation of global challenges. It argues that a further deepening and widening of its democratic foundations beyond executive to executive engagement is needed for more successful cooperation in the 21st century.

Publication Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the cc by 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited.
Publisher Keywords:	EU-US; EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC); Technology; Trade; Executive dominance; European Parliament
Subjects:	J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JX International law K Law
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > Institute for the Study of European Laws The City Law School > International Law and Affairs Group

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