In an era of global flux, emerging powers and interconnectedness, transatlantic relations appear to have lost their bearings. As the international relations system fragments along various policy domains (security, economy, environment, human rights etc.) with different power constellations (multipolar, interpolar, nonpolar), the US and the EU are no longer able to claim leadership in global governance as they were in the past. Traditional paradigms to understand the transatlantic relationship are therefore wanting. A new approach was needed to spot the direction transatlantic relations are taking. Transworld [2], a project funded by the European Union's 7th Framework Programme, provided such an approach. Throughout 3 and ½ years, the IAI-led consortium responsible for developing the project, which comprises 13 universities, think tanks and companies from the EU, US, and Turkey, : a) ascertained whether transatlantic relations are drifting apart, adapting along an ad hoc cooperation-based pattern, or evolving into a different but resilient special partnership; b) assessed the role of the re-defined transatlantic relationship in the global governance architecture; c) provided tested policy recommendations to enhance EU-US cooperation.

Publications:
- Transworld Papers [3] series
- Christine Bakker and Francesco Francioni (eds.), The EU, the US and Global Climate Governance [4], Ashgate, August 2014
- Riccardo Alcaro, John Peterson, Ettore Greco (eds.), The West and the Global Power Shift. Transatlantic Relations and Global Governance [5], Palgrave Macmillan, July 2016.