*** JEFFREY KOPSTEIN, SVEN STEINMO (Eds.): Growing Apart America and Europe in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 326050 - Fax: 326111 - email: directcustserve@cambridge.org - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2008, 237 pp, £14-99. ISBN 978-0-521-70491-5.
Some collections of academic essays read like a well-planned cops and robbers story, where you can't wait to find out what happens next. This is the case for this exceptional book which, although it does not hold readers in suspense in search of a serial killer, it will keep you awake at night to read the next chapter because it is so enchanting and bejewelled with surprises, one after the other, like pearls on a necklace. The outcome of remarkable research which, supported by the European Commission, involved political and society commentators from either side of the Atlantic, it provides never-before published ideas to help readers understand the way Europe and the North American continent are drifting apart, also shedding light in the process on the breakdown of Western cohesion. The authors take as their starting point that it is not enough to simply discern what is happening between democratic states in the Western world, but 'in order to explain that is happening between democratic states of the West, one must first understand what is happening inside these countries'. Their analysis therefore is of enormous scale, lifting the book into the slim ranks of the most prestigious and vital reading.
Are America and Europe growing apart? Looking at how their domestic policy and society are changing, then they are more and more different at any rate. The divisions perceptible, however, in society on either side of the Atlantic are also considerable, which simply complicates the overall task. However, the authors argue that America and Europe are no longer on the same wavelength. The fall of the Iron Curtain was not understood in the same way on either side of the Atlantic. Most Americans, argue Sven Steinmo of Florence European University Institute in Italy and Jeffrey Kopstein of Toronto University in Canada, believe that 'it was American liberalism, not European social democracy, that brought down the Berlin Wall'. Europeans, however, believe that 'although it was obvious that capitalism was victorious over communism, it was far from obvious that America's version of capitalism was preferable to European social democracy,' to such an extent that what was once seen as 'American political leadership' was soon being felt by many Europeans to be 'American unilateralism', and the US economic leadership was seen as 'rapacious neoliberalism'. Likewise, Europeans have never shared Americans' absolute faith in the virtues of the market and while some people today talk about the end of history and the victory of the US model, there is an anti-globalisation movement (anti free-trade liberal globalisation) growing on both sides of the Atlantic and 'European and American populism, of both the right and the left, appear increasingly cut from the same cloth'. More fundamentally, Mark Blyth of John Hopkins University in Baltimore shows that many Europeans reject the new neoliberal orthodoxy and, not wanting to accept the hyperliberalism of the American model, they don't have to. The experience of several European countries shows that economic competition inevitably requires lower taxes and governments taking the back seat, leading at the end of the day to the dismantling of the welfare state that they remain attached to. Exploring 'Why Neoliberal Ideas Fail in Europe But Succeed in America', Steven Teles of Yales University and Daniel Kenney of Brandeis University conclude that it is because European business milieus are not as hostile to state action as their American counterparts.
Major differences in the perceptible changes on either side of the Atlantic are also seen when it comes to religion, with growing assertiveness of fundamentalist religion in politics in the United States, where the cult of the market has a role. Mosques in Europe might be tempted to try and develop the same kind of entrepreneurial skills vis-à-vis their 'customers'. When it comes to the media, Europeans demonstrate greater cohesion than Americans, who are ever more divided between traditionalists/conservatives and liberals. Another essay looks specifically at the way immigration is managed on either side of the Atlantic with Daniel Drezner of Tufts University in the US showing that US multilateralism is not understood the same way in the United States and Europe, being seen as only a means to an end in the US but the Europeans seeing it as an end in itself. This does not cause the author any great concern because he argues that 'the Transatlantic tiffs over diplomatic style make great headlines, but they do not fundamentally alter the transatlantic relationship'. This optimism is generally shared by French writer Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, who argues that as obvious as they are, differences in perception and vision 'need to be understood and carefully managed so as to prevent a vicious circle of diplomatic incompetence, nationalist excess and popular acrimony'. At the end of the day, this would lead one to believe that there is a future for the West as long as Europeans and Americans agree to each make a step in the other's direction on the bridge across the Atlantic…
Michel Theys
*** TANGUY STRUYE DE SWIELANDE: La politique étrangère de l'administration Bush. Analyse de la prise de décision. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: email: pie@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Géopolitique et résolution des conflits" series, No. 5. 2007, 288 pp, €35-90. ISBN 978-90-5201-070-0.
More academic than the one reviewed above, this book is of similar high quality. A lecturer at the Catholic University in Mons, Belgium, the Belgian Royal Military School, and Senior Fellow at the International Crisis and Conflict Research Centre at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, the author is at pains to discern the profound forces motivating foreign policy under the Bush administration, along with the political culture and ambitions in the context of the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, avoiding the temptation of simplification and reductionism in order to ease explanation. As Tanguy de Wilde explains in the preface, the ink and saliva expended in commentaries on the diplomatic and strategic action decided in Washington often make use of simplifying clichés, but the author, Tanguy Struye de Swielande, shows the reader that there is enough to criticise in the United States' foreign policy after one has analysed it in depth for it not to have to be caricatured with superficial impressions. The book is divided into three chapters. The first unveils the diversity and complexity of US foreign policy through analysis of a series of variables in decision-making, both foreign and domestic, like geographical factors, a country's place in the international power structure, ideology, type of regime, pressure groups, etc. After describing the concepts and theories of decision-making, the author uses them to assess the White House's performance in managing foreign affairs. In turn, he examines the way President Bush organised and managed his advisors and how the advisors, bureaucrats et al advised him and kept him informed during the post-11 September period. Summing up, Tanguy Struye de Swielande observes that the policy pursued by the Bush administration is not as revolutionary as tends to be claimed and that despite errors, this direct policy, both ideological and pragmatic, and sometimes cynical, at the same time, was also based, as time will show, on a vision and a grand strategy.
(MT)
*** JORDAN J. PAUST: Beyond The Law. The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the "War" on Terror. Cambridge University Press (see above). 2007, 311 pp, £17-99. ISBN 978-0-521-71120-3.
This book deals with an issue that has been the subject of many column inches in recent years and will continue to occupy the headlines for several years to come, it seems. Since one dark September day in 2001, the United States' authorities took up, the words of their President, a war on terror and have been relentlessly pursuing those responsible for the attacks, determined to find the guilty parties at any price and using any means. While intellectually, such a reaction may be understandable, many people are asking questions about the means used to achieve the ends. The revelations of how prisoners have been treated at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, described by many as torture, the kidnapping of individuals in foreign lands or simply a lack of transparency about what is happening in Iraq, are being questioned to an ever greater extent by an international community that is generally powerless against these events. This questioning also comes from the United States itself, where some people are mobilising to raise awareness among their fellow countrymen about what they see as the aberrations committed by their leaders. Jordan J. Paust, professor of international law at Houston University, exposes in great detail the actions and decisions of the Bush Administration in recent years and shows on a case-by-case basis how officials have twisted and re-interpreted international law to serve their own ends. The author explains how the administration planned and authorised violations of international law regarding the treatment, interrogation and secret detention of prisoners and why the 'war' against Al Qaeda is absurd in that Al Qaeda does not represent a sovereign state, which is a necessary condition for waging a war. He also explains the dangers arising from the antiterrorist military tribunals that Washington wants to stand above international law. Prof. Paust also sounds the alarm bell by expressing concern about the fact that the President of the United States - who, under the Constitution of the United States, is subject to both national and international law - has a serious tendency to fail to respect either domestic or international law, which has never before been seen in the history of the United States. He also observes that never since the advent of the Third Reich in Germany (!) has anyone seen so many civilian lawyers so determined and busy in their task of twisting and maliciously interpreting such a huge number of laws. This book will be of interest to anyone for whom freedom is important and/or anyone interested in the role played by the United States in the world.
(NDu)
*** ANDRAS INOTAI: The European Union and Southeastern Europe. Troubled Waters Ahead? Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (see above). "College of Europe Studies", No. 7. 2007, 414 pp, €49-90. ISBN 978- 90- 5201- 071-7.
With the recent accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU and accession talks under way with Croatia, the European Union is sending out a message of being open to other countries in South-East Europe. Historically torn by conflicts, the other countries in the region take a very positive view of the economic advantages that joining the EU could confer on them, not to mention the political stability that should arise from it. The image and credibility of the European Union and its integration policy are therefore at stake here. In order to take the pulse of the region, the Budapest office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation commissioned this study into the Balkans states. Aware that the future of European integration will be influenced by what happens in the Balkans, Prof. András Inotai of the College of Europe and Columbia University in New York describes research carried out with the aid of researchers from seven Balkans states. The research is predominantly economic in nature but also covers sociological and political issues. The work looks at the EU's official relations with the Balkans states and the macroeconomic and socio-cultural impact of European policies. In addition, the book provides an analysis of the various non-European stakeholders in the region, particularly the role of the United States, and the impact of these stakeholders on the countries concerned and EU policies. The authors also look at the perception in these countries of the adjustments to be made to match EU rules and conditions both institutionally and socially, and assess the impact of these policies on local people, identifying the dilemmas that they cause. To sum up, various political recommendations are made on how to address the future.
(NDu)
*** Südosteuropa Mitteilungen. Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft (49 Widenmayerstrasse, D-80538 Munich. Tel: (49-89) 2121540 - Fax: 2289469 - email: info@suedosteuropa-gesellschaft.com - Internet: www. suedosteuropa-gesellschaft.com). 2008, No. 2, 128 pp, €12. Annual subscription: €60.
This issue of Südosteuropa Mitteilungen includes an article on the European Union's responsibility towards the Western Balkans, and an analysis of relations between the military and civilian life in Turkey. There is a special report on populism, focussing on Greece, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.
(PBo)
*** Biblioteca della libertà. Centro di Ricerca e Documentazione "Luigi Einaudi" (4 via Ponza, I-10121 Turin. Tel: (39-11) 5591611 - Fax: 5591691 - Email: segreteria@centroeinaudi.it - Internet: www. Centroeinaudi.it). 2008, No. 190, 121 pp, €15. Annual subscription: €56.
Privatisation of the Iraq War in the light of the Blackwater Case and Iran (between new political balances and the nuclear issue) are two topics covered in this issue, which also looks at equality and non-discrimination in the European Union and economic freedom.
(PBo)
*** Politica Exterior. Estudios de Politica Exterior SA (49 Núñez de Balboa, E-28001 Madrid. Tel: (34 91) 4312628 - Fax: 5777252 - Email: suscripciones@politicaexterior.com - Internet: http: //http://www.politicaexterior.com ). 2008, No. 122, 202 pp, €12-50. Annual subscription: €106.
Several essays in this issue look at the European Union's area, from Kosovo to the Mediterranean, while other articles discuss the health of democracy in the United States.
(PBo)