European-American Relations After Iraq War

On 20th March 2003, the United States(US)formally waged the war on Iraq. The US entered its tanks into the Iraqi territory, by circumventing the United Nations (UN).The gunfire on the battlefield in Iraq not only startled the international community, but also caused rift in the transatlantic relations. What are the reasons behind the split over of Europe and US on the Iraq war and how would the US-Europe relations develop after the war raised concerns for the transformation of world order. Nevertheless, the development in US-Europe relations has left far-reaching impact on the formation of a future world order. From the difference between Europe and the US on the issue of Iraq war, we can see that although the traditional cross-Atlantic alliance is not yet to break, the de facto Europe-depending-on-US alliance formed during the cold war era is bound to gradually change to a more competitive, complementary and cooperative relationship based on equal partnership.