Transatlantic Trends 2011

In 2011, in a year of tumult and upheaval, with political revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, natural catastrophes in Japan, economic turmoil in Europe and the United States, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and heated debates over NATO, Transatlantic Trends painted a picture of a complex relationship between the United States and Europe and how they responded to global challenges. Transatlantic Trends shows that people responded to complexity with nuance rather than simplification.

In the context of mounting global challenges, the survey uncovered some remarkable findings. Among others, four stood out: Americans’ growing focus on Asia; EU respondents’ steadfast support for the European Union in the midst of crisis; the growing transatlantic convergence on security policy; and that the views of Swedish respondents, included in Transatlantic Trends for the first time, differed from other Europeans’ perspectives in some important ways.