Difference within similarity: Transatlantic relations as a 'community of neighbours'

The contribution focuses on the unfolding and tensions within the transatlantic relationship and it pursues, in particular, the question how the bonds of association between Europe and America are best comprehended and accounted for. In trying to break some new ground for theorization it argues that the Realist, Liberal and Constructivist accounts have so far come up short in terms of providing up-to-date and broadly acceptable answers. With the dominant theories focusing largely on either external enmity or internal homogeneity, difference inter-nal to the relationship has too easily been conceptualized as destabilizing and seen as repre-senting a rupture. In contrast, the paper asserts that while elements of enmity and homogene-ity are important, communities such as the Atlantic one are also critically brought together by their internal differences. It then aims, in view of the difference-based dynamics at play and foundational for the Atlantic communality, to complement and provide a corrective to the more established theorization of that togetherness.