USA:s förändrade Europapolitik USA: EU-politik sedan kalla krigets slut. En utrikespolitisk förändring i stil eller substans?

This thesis aims to describe and characterise the foreign policy change the United States has experienced towards Europe. This thesis claims that the United States is presenting a more supportive attitude today towards the development of the European Union. This more positive attitude has developed during successive U.S. administrations and has become visible since the end of the Cold War. Washington is today less ambiguous and less ambivalent towards the integration of Europe. The United States appreciate that a common foreign- and security policy in Europe is in accordance with American interests. The foreign policy change is reflected in Washington's greater acknowledgment of the EU as an international actor and in a more regular cooperation with the EU. This thesis characterises the foreign policy change according to a model which separates Foreign Policy Changes in Tone from Foreign Policy Changes in Substance. A change in substance incorporates a change in both foreign policy goals and instruments whereas a change in tone is a change in foreign policy instruments only. This thesis maintains that the U.S. foreign policy change is a change in tone since the goals for Europe, stability, influence and leadership, remain, while the instruments have changed. Keywords: Foreign Policy Change, U.S. Foreign Policy, The European Union, Tone- and Substance Change, Foreign Policy Goals- and Instrument