"It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world" (Robert Kagan, Power and Weakness). Discuss.

Résumé du document

This essay is organized in two sections. The first part proposes to analyze the particular context for such a statement, Kagan's view on the relationship between the United States and Europe, the power gap and the marks of the divide Kagan see between the trans-Atlantic partners. The final section discusses Kagan's argument by refuting the reading of Europe as whole identity, underlines the "Americanisation" of Europe and the shift to "hard power" and concludes that we have different worldviews but we still share common values and we still occupy the same world...

Extraits

[...] But more importantly, he underplays the obvious fact that relative weakness can be strength, if the weaker can withhold something which the stronger wants. A recent example is the Iraqi crisis; the U.S assumed that the Iraqi would act as the U.S wished. But rebellions and desperate “acts of war, terrorism or revenge” are numerous. As a result, the Pentagon is now thinking about speeding up the “Iraqification” and hastening the transition to Iraqi sovereignty for fear of Iraqi public opinion and its possible support of the Islamic fundamentalism. [...]

[...] Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the German Marshall Funds of the United States, ‘European Public Opinion and Foreign Policy', www.worldviews.org. Makins Christopher J ‘Power And Weakness' or Challenge And Response ? October, http://www.gmfus.org/apps/gmf/gmfwebfinal.nsf, p.6. Howorth Jolyon The European Union and national defence policy, Jolyon Howorth and Anand Menon, p.10. ESDI CESDP Duke Simon ‘CESDP : Nice's overtrumped Success ?', European Foreign Affairs Review, No p Blinken Anthony J false crisis over the Atlantic', Foreign Affairs, vol No May/June, p Kagan Robert Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, Atlantic Books, pp Gordon Philip H ‘Bridging the Atlantic Divide', Foreign Affairs, vol No.1, January/February, pp Blinken Anthony J false crisis over the Atlantic', Foreign Affairs, vol No May/June, pp Kagan Robert ‘Power and Weakness', Policy Review, June/July, p Daalder Ivo H., 2003,‘The End of Atlanticism', Survival, vol No Summer, p. [...]

[...] And he even put it only are the products American, so are their vehicles : the English or American/English language and the Internet. Mc Donald's did not expand from 17 to 800 outlets in France since 1984 via the tip of a sword.” The gap in terms of values, values which supposedly define a community or the planet Kagan talked about, is far from being noticed. The number of tourists in the United States has reached record levels while in the meantime Americans favourite destination remains Europe and especially France. [...]

[...] The writer opened an intense debate in the United States and Europe regarding the future of trans- Atlantic relations since the controversial new best seller claim to explain why "It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world". C Kagan's view on the relationship between the United States and Europe Through his statements in both his article and his political essay, Kagan uses a simple argument: Europeans and Americans not share a common view of the world or do not even occupy the same world”[4]. [...]

[...] In his article[3] ‘Power and Weakness', Kagan portrays then the U.S as the maintaining its predominant position through a Hobbesian use of force, while Europe is living in Kantian world of perpetual peace and being “Weakness” because of its inability to cope with the anarchical menaces of the global world. Kagan even went as far as to say, is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world”. This essay is organized in two sections. The first part proposes to analyze the particular context for such a statement, Kagan's view on the relationship between the United States and Europe, the power gap and the marks of the divide Kagan see between the trans-Atlantic partners. [...]