The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy [Paperback]

Over the past decade I have, like many Americans, been aware of many of the changes that have been taking place in Europe, but unfortunately also like most Americans I have been completely unaware of the magnitude, extent and nature of the changes taken there. Reid's thesis is that the European Union, which could be the fulfillment of Winston Churchill's vision of a United States of Europe, could be poised to become a world superpower to equal or surpass the United States of America. Although Reid does not put it quite this way, if the 20th Century was the American Century, the 21st Century could well be the European Century.

Under any consideration, the situation that Reid describes in the European Union that is extremely impressive. In the decades following the destruction of the Second World War, the Europeans have crafted a loosely unified state that has created the world's largest trading bloc, the world's strongest currency, one of the world's largest populations, one of the world's greatest manufacturing bases, and a model network of social structures. As an American, I have long been used to the idea that the United States takes the lead on many of the world's advances, whether economic, political, or moral, but upon reading this book I wonder if we might be lagging rather far behind what is being done in Europe. But it is Europe and not the United States that is planning a trip to visit Mars. It is Europe that is setting the world's standards for safety. It is Europe that has taken the international lead on human rights issues, and has taken the United States to task for a variety of shortcomings in the area, in particular on capital punishment. Europe has far outstripped the United States in the way it has advanced and furthered the well being of its citizens, building a cradle to grave social network system. One wonders, in reading this book, if one is glimpsing the future and realizing that it lies on the other side of the ocean.

In reading the book, I kept thinking of Bush's remarks about Europe before the initiation of the invasion of Iraq, trying to strong arm them into joining the U.S. coalition by remarks about the old order of Europe, implying that the United States was on the cutting edge of things. The reverse seems to be the case, with the United States persisting in policies that are rapidly going out of date, with the United States pursuing a wide range of domestic policies that are running against the grain of what is happening in Europe. But with the magnificent health care system in Europe (universal, absolutely first rate, and extremely cheap, all while costing less than half of what the less-than-universal healthcare system of the United States costs), with the widespread protection for workers (e.g., it is illegal to downsize a company and layoffs are prohibited, and if unemployed one does not lose one's health benefits), with the vastly preferable work conditions (European workers have several weeks worth of days off compared to American workers, who tend to work exceedingly long hours for slightly better pay but vastly fewer benefits), it is not a question of whether Americans will want the kind of system put in place there but when. I was nearly incredulous when an online Swedish friend of mine explained that he gets eight weeks of vacation a year (he is in his mid-twenties). I asked how many sick days he got, and he said if you are sick you stay home; he didn't know what I meant by "sick days."

On top of all this, the European Union is growing rapidly as an economic superpower. Reid is not the first one to argue that it is a matter of time before the standard international currency is no longer the American dollar but the Euro. Again, this isn't a question of if, but when. On a host of issues, it is Europe that sets the rules for international trade. Reid illustrates the slowness with which the U.S. has awoken to this fact by the clumsy and thwarted attempt by Jack Welch and GE to merge with Honeywell.

All of this comes at a price, however. Reid details the rather gigantic amount in taxes all Europeans pay for the immense array of benefits they receive, for the extraordinary transportation system they enjoy, for the assurances that workers and the elderly receive, and for the vastly improved infrastructure that provides the foundations for contemporary Europe. They pay value added taxes on most goods at rates up to 17-25%, on top of regular taxes of all sorts. But they very much get in return what they pay for in taxes.

This is an eye-opening book, but one can in the end question whether the ascendance of Europe is quite as accomplished as Reid insists. After all, the United States is still the world's most powerful economy, and its massive military has provided the international security (to the West at least) that has made the European miracle possible. But I would respond to such a critic in this fashion: if the world Reid describes doesn't quite exist today, it easily could in the near future. Again, it is more of a "when" question, not an "if" question. Reid warns that there is a deep need for the United States to wake up to the changed landscape, to formulate methods of cooperation, to afford Europe the respect it demands, and to realize that they are not the only big boys on the block now. My own concern is that four more years of Bush, an individual who has done a great deal to solidify European self-identity (largely in unified opposition to him as a world leader the intensely loathe), will continue to left a great gap in world leadership, creating a void that Europeans will increasingly fill. In 2000, the United States was the world's leading nation, but in 2008 it is far more likely to be the European Union.

There are so many other fascinating things in this book, from the nature of Generation E to the vast mobility of residents (all in a collection of nations that are now passport free and have no checkpoints or guarded borders) to the role of English to the original conception of a united Europe. This truly is a book that all Americans need to read. To quote Jack Welch from the book, those in the U.S. might not like everything in this volume, but "This really is just the way the world works now."

I finished reading this book several weeks ago and it has taken me a bit of time to compile my thoughts on it. All and all, I have a mixed review to present here.

It's certainly a well written book, with lots of useful information. Reid does an excellent job of bringing us up to date on the European Commitment from the end of WWII to the current political theatre. This is a gripping read that will benefit anyone who has not kept abreast of the developments in Europe in the last several decades. Reid does a very good job of describing the European Social Model - in terms of health care, the death penalty, drugs and quality of life issues. Its clear that the EU has surpassed the US in many societal matters.

As Reid points out, many Americans still feel like the lone superpower on the globe, basing their decision primarily on superior US military power. Reid correctly argues that the term "superpower" is open to interpretation - an economic superpower or a social superpower also are valid forms of a global leadership and can have as much pull as a military power.

Where I believe Reid falls short is in his description of the EU as a near utopian state. The EU has deficit problems, social issues, labor issues (i.e., unemployment, underemployment and worker strikes) - just as any other nation has. There are also pervasive relationship problems between many of the EU countries. (England and Italy for starters). I think the social care that they provide to their nations is unprecedented in history, and a wonderful idea, But like many economists, I wonder how long this can be sustained.

The book is clearly written by a Europhile (I am not saying that as a pejorative, mind you). Like most things in this world, there is no such thing as a sure thing, and nobody knows how this will all play out in the long run. Reid assumes that the union will continue on its current trajectory.

While Reid does offer statistics to support many of his arguments, I believe that he also offers too many ancedotal examples. He dedicates too many pages repeating discussions with people he met while traveling, his own examples while living in England, interviews with working couples, etc.

Its been apparent (at least to me) that Europe has pulled ahead of the US in many respects, and this book will serve as an eye opener for its readers. I think it would be an injustice for people to complete this book, and feel compelled to decide whether the US or the EU is a better place to live.

Now that George W. Bush has convincingly demonstrated his national mandate through his re-election, it might give many Americans significant pause were they to recognize the force with which the United European state is beginning to effectively countermand the current administration's strain toward military unilateralism as the seemingly singular exercisable method for extending American power and influence throughout the world. As scholar Paul Kennedy has argued forcefully elsewhere, the mighty military power we project as the primary steam-rolling vehicle of our foreign policy has both great costs and great limitations, neither of which we seem to pay much heed to, but which both have fateful consequences for the future of the republic.

Therefore, it is instructive indeed to find this thoughtful, well researched, and extremely cogently-written offering in which Mr. Reid, a former London Bureau chief for the Washington Post, argues that our chance at international hegemony may, in fact, be drawing to a premature close based on our peculiar penchant for unilateralism in foreign affairs and our confusion regarding what can be settled militarily, on the one hand, for what can be settled in political terms on the other. Our current imbroglio in Iraq, of course, comes immediately to mind, yet there are countless other egregious examples of the ways in which our social, cultural and political mindset seems to predispose us to what our European counterparts often view as counterproductive and even solipsistic efforts that often cost us far more than we gain.

As a result, contends the always provocative and entertaining Mr. Reid, the emerging economic and political force of the European Union may soon eclipse that of the United States and in the process make our overwhelming military prowess all but irrelevant. Yet, while we may see the European alliance more in terms of its potential as a market for our products and services, in reality the European Union is much more likely to be increasingly the more senior and more powerful of the elements in the ongoing business calculus that continues to transpire between the two super-states. In particular, we need to pay attention to the ways in which pan-international agreements like the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) significantly impinge upon and often constrain the legal and economic rights and prerogatives of individual signatory nations to successfully employ their own national laws and regulations to determine economic and business destinies.

An excellent example given in the book is that experienced by General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who discovered to his dismay that the supposedly definitively greased and authorized merger acquisition of Honeywell by GE was effectively blocked by the governing antitrust policies of the European Union, since in order to trade with the EU, one must, by virtue of the provisions of GATT, conform to the international trade laws within that realm. If GE wanted to sell its products within the huge European market, it had to conform, and the merger activities ceased and desisted. In fact, Reid indicates, the European Union has a much larger market for American good than any other single market, including our own domestic economy. It also has more capital to use to enforce its dictates on trading partners operating within its orbit.

Another consideration is its quite different social and cultural environment, one in which the idea of a "welfare state' is not only not the anathema it is here, but is also something the Europeans view as a superior moral and cultural tradition, one far superior to what they see as the naked and indifferent capitalism they see practiced in the United States. What is truly ironic in this regard is that while we act as the virtual arsenal of liberty, spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to outfit, support, and man our armed forces, the Europeans tend to neglect to share what we might see as their fair share of such a burden by characteristically under-contributing to the defense of NATO in particular, and by spending relatively little of their national treasure on defense in general. This allows them to support the forms of general welfare we tend to eschew as too costly and too unmanageable. One muses about how their quality of life compares to ours, and the answers one may finally arrive at regarding this comparison may depend on the all too selective criteria one may use to measure this aspect of 21st century life.

While we Americans naturally imagine the quality of life in the United States to be superior to all others, one examining the issue becomes less sure that this is an established fact as opposed to being an un-researched supposition based on a profound cultural ignorance and lack of social experience living in other countries. And it is in this respect that the author serves the yeoman's service of better acquainting the reader with the realities of the rising cultural and economic influence of the European Union as well as their perceptions and dispositions toward us. For example, it is in our best interests to better understand the growing anti-American sentiment of individual Europeans based both on our unilateral foreign policies and what they see as a kind of cultural arrogance in which American values are assumed to be the values that we Americans are attempting to plant far and wide in service to the growth of freedom and liberty. To many Europeans it seems more an argument for economic imperialism than for the spread of freedom. This is an excellent book, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!

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