The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - trade between the EU and the USA in the 21st century?

The aim of this thesis it to offer a complex overview of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This international agreement is being negotiated between the United States and the European Union. The main goal of this agreement is to create the largest free trade area to date. I wish to claim that the TTIP does not merely concern trade, but there is a clear geopolitical underlining for it too. When the communist world collapsed, the United States became the sole remaining superpower. Nowadays, the West is facing a different world that fosters new challenges as well as opportunities. The rise of China and Russia puts pressure on the West again. The TTIP seeks to reflect new challenges in world politics. A successful agreement would clearly demonstrate that countries across the Atlantic are still the closest partners. In this thesis I aim to find a causal link between this agreement and the current situation ushering in a shifting balance of power in world politics. I intend to employ two main branches of theories of international relations to verify my hypotheses. The first theory, realism, is equipped to answer questions about power and national interests. The second branch of theories, liberalism, is well applicable so as to indicate different actors and their participation in..