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kunne garanterer deres egen sikkerhed over for korrumpering af andres værdier. En
fuldendelse af projektet legitimeredes derfor af Clinton-administrationen igennem koblingen
til USA’s egen sikkerhed. NATO det eneste åbenlyse og allerede eksisterende instrumentet.
Som Talbott artikulerede “the only constant is that NATO is still, and will always be, a way of
keeping the Americans in.” 159 På denne måde kunne NATO (læs: USA) være drivkraften for
et forenet, fredeligt og demokratisk Europa på vejen til det ‘bedre’. 160
8.1.2. En europæisk søjle som middel
Den europæiske søjle inden for NATO var den anden idé, hvormed Clinton-administrationen
brugte fremskridtsideen som et middel, der skulle konsolidere de amerikanske værdier i hele
Europa og fuldende den europæiske moderniseringsproces.
Den europæiske søjle som moderniseringsinstrument bestod i, at en europæisk dimension blev
bygget på en institutionel grundstruktur inden for NATO. Dette betød bl.a. en fælles
tilslutning til ’demokrati’, ’lovstyre’, ’menneskerettigheder’, en fredelig og ikke-voldelig
løsning af kontroverser. 161 Baggrunden for dette var helt centralt en bekymring for, at Europa
ikke var fri af deres fortidspraktiker, der knyttede sig til nationalstaterne og det Westfalske
suverænitetssystem. Bekymringen for ’det gamle Europa’ kom særligt til udtryk i den
amerikanske diskurs vedrørende begivenhederne på Balkan i løbet af 1990’erne. Her havde
den Serbiske præsident Milosevic bl.a. i Clinton-administrationens opfattelse demonstreret, at
’det gamle Europa’ fortsat var i live. 162 Det var netop dette Clinton-administrationens projekt
159 Talbott, Strobe (1998b): “Address to the New Traditions Conference”, Berlin, Germany, March 20 th :
160 Talbott (1998) fremhævede NATO som motor f.eks. igennem NATO-udvidelsen som et forbillede for EU’s
udvidelse i følgende artikulation: “That is why the United States will continue to urge that Europe define itself as
inclusively, as expansively, and as comprehensively as possible. NATO, we believe, can be an engine that helps
drive Europe in that direction. It is against that backdrop that NATO has opened its own doors. We make no
bones about our hope that NATO enlargement will help induce EU enlargement.”
161 Talbott (1998).artikulerede, at “Bill Clinton […] sees it as not just an opportunity but as an obligation to
make sure that the United States does everything in its power to help build a Europe that is whole and free and
at peace for the first time in its history. That is the goal. The means, as we see it, are largely institutional – or, as
is often said, architectural. We are building a structure in which we and our children and our grandchildren will
make our homes. The foundation of that structure is a shared commitment to democratic governance, to civil
society, to sustainable development through the dynamism of the free market, to the rule of law and human
rights, to the principles of mutual respect, and to the peaceful settlement of disputes.”
162 Christopher, William J. (1996b): “Statement by Secretary of State Warren Christopher”, December
10 th :artikulerede f.eks. om Serbien: “As the courageous young people of Serbia have shown us, and recent
developments in Belarus have demonstrated, the struggle for democracy is not over in Europe.”Endvidere
artikulerede Talbott (1999c), at “There is another important transformation that is underway in Europe today
and it, too, runs counter to everything that Milosevic stands for. The old Westphalian system of nation-states –
each sovereign in its exercise of supreme, absolute and permanent authority – is giving way to a new system in
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