The study of international relations derives from the history of diplomacy and international law. Today the
subject is as interdisciplinary as it deals with time elements( history)‐events, space dimensions (
geography)‐ place, power (political sciences)‐state/actor, economic state( economic sciences)‐market,
social behavior( sociology)‐social system, culture(anthropology)‐cultural system, personality of actors(
psychology)‐individuality.1
One of the challenges of the 21st century will be maintaining the security of liberal democratic states.
Freedom from physical attack or coercion, from internal subversion and from erosion of the political,
economic and social values essential to people's way of life will be under threat. Problems will arise from
great power ambitions, regional disputes, the collapse of states and ecological disasters. But widely
accessible new technologies, the spread of weapons of mass effect, and a high degree of global mobility
have increased the vulnerabilities of democratic states to adversaries with trans‐national ideologies willing
to use violence to achieve their aims.
The paper seeks to bring its contribution to enhancing the understanding states managerial styles, their
vision, resources, commitments interests, agreements, their international relation, the power they have,
they lack, the interdependence between them, world system of analysis and its evolution, the impact of the
financial crisis, which countries are more successful than others in raising income levels and opportunities
for their respective populations. And in this global perspective there were set two important actors:
European Union and United States of America, that have been investigated from their political, social,
economical point of view, relating them to global competitiveness, as a preset challenge of the
international system.
