Robert Kagan, "Of Paradise and Power, America and Europe in the New World Order"

Résumé du document

Robert Kagan's Of Paradise and Power was published in January 2003. The book is in fact an extension of the author's article "Power and Weakness" which appeared in the Policy Review in June 2002. In his book, Kagan presents a very interesting point of view. He shows that, whether Europeans or Americans want to accept it or not, everybody has to recognize objectively, that American and European interests are sharply diverging today and that the transatlantic relationship has changed after the end of the Cold War. Kagan thinks "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" and this is unfortunately not a transitory situation: it has actually been developing in both American and European geopolitics since the collapse of the USSR and September 11th has only made it more obvious for the international community. The major reason for this divergence is the power gap between the two sides of the Atlantic. America's "power", that is its military capability, is not comparable to the European one. With its technology, its weapons and military forces, its finance, the US are much more powerful than the European Union, which seems "weak" today.

Extraits

[...] Although Kagan's thesis about the divergence between the US and Europe seems true to me, his arguments aren't fully convincing. His historical explanation of the current differences is sometimes far-fetched in my view. When he explains how Europe has gone power by building the EU and rejecting its (the power politics of the earlier centuries), he adds that is the integration and taming of Germany that is the great accomplishment of Europe” and that the US played an important role in solving the “German problem”. [...]

[...] Even though in October 2002, majority of Senate Democrats agreed with the resolution authorizing Bush to deploy military forces in Iraq, their views changed very quickly. Today, the Bush administration has to face in Congress a Democratic majority that wants to slowly withdraw American troops from Iraq. It seems, in my view, that majority of American Liberals and Democrats want to constrain US independence in political decisions. This is the case for those who want America to join organizations such as the International Criminal Court and to respect international law much less selectively that it's being done today. [...]

[...] In my view, the decline of the is indeed real in today's world. It has become clear Europe established itself as an entity apart from the US. This is well shown by the EU institutions such as its Parliament or the European Commission, but also the Euro, which is now a big competitor of the Dollar. Then, European economic and agricultural strength, which is even bigger than the American one, shows also Europe's will for “independence”. Nowadays, there is no doubt Europe and America are separate entities. [...]

[...] This example shows that, in terms of foreign policy, there's no unanimity in Europe neither in America. Nowadays, there may be some truth in the idea the weaker Europe prefers peaceful negotiation whereas the powerful America chooses military interventions. However the comparison between a Kantian and a Hobbesian view of the world is an exaggeration. Kagan is oversimplifying what those philosophers were actually saying. He doesn't explain that although Kant claimed that states should create a “federation of free states” that would forbid the wars, he also was aware it could lead to despotism. [...]

[...] Robert Kagan, "Of Paradise and Power, America and Europe in the New World Order" Robert Kagan's Of Paradise and Power was published in January 2003. The book is in fact an extension of the author's article “Power and Weakness” which appeared in the Policy Review in June 2002. In his book, Kagan presents a very interesting point of view. He shows that, whether Europeans or Americans want to accept it or not, everybody has to recognize objectively that American and European interests are sharply diverging today and that the transatlantic relationship has changed after the end of the Cold War. [...]