Super-State: The New Europe and its Challenge to America: Britain and the Drive to a New Europe [Hardcover]

This books explains where Europe should develop and what kinds of tensions with United States interests the 'growing up' of Europe will produce. Super-State is a very well written and thoughtful contribution. Essential reading for everyone who wants to obtain a deeper understanding of Europe

When reviewing political books, one must be wary that when the reader' political stance clashes with the author's, it can be difficult to review it "neutrally". I am anti-EU, but will do my best to fairly review this pro-EU book as fairly as I can on its merits, some of which it must be said are genuinely thought provoking.

The book does some things very well. It explains in great detail how the rivalry between the EU and the USA is largely motivated by a desire of both sides to control the natural resources of Eurasia, and to have access to its large and growing consumer markets. The book also has an interesting analysis of how the American and EU systems of capitalism are quite different, with a neo-liberal American model versus a more state involved European model. The author also states that when people are anti-American, they are actually more opposed the American system rather than America itself, and a similar logic can be extrapolated for anti-EU stances. This is an interesting possibility that I hadn't considered before, and may well have some truth to it. In addition, the author states how the USA and the EU differ in their views of the relative importance of "soft" versus "hard" power, and how both sides are diversifying their strategies in this respect as they become increasingly competitive on a world stage where a mixture of both is needed.

At this point however the interesting analysis ends, and the book becomes an extremely presumptuous, almost arrogant account of how the EU will become a superpower and eclipse the USA (despite the well publicised evidence to the contrary). The authors gushing, uncritical praise of the EU is rather tiresome in places, particularly when he repeats the Euro-supremacist canard that Europe is "civilised", and thus by extension America is not. The problem with this type of stance in an author is it gets in the way of an objective run down of the trans-Atlantic rivalry. For instance, he seems to be under the impression that Europe's opposition to the Iraq war was motivated by purely by anti-war altruism, when in fact France and Germany had a strong economic agenda in keeping their business with Saddam in tact. It would have been more intellectually honest to admit that all countries often cloak their naked interests in altruistic camouflage. Yet the author seems to think only America does this, and he frequently writes American schemes like "war on terror" in speech marks, as if to display his ironic detachment from the term and his scoffing attitude towards the authenticity of it. I am honest enough to admit that even countries I like (e.g. the USA) can occasionally wrap their naked interests in altruistic sounding terminology, so it is a pity the author is not prepared to concede that his "side" does it as well.

The author also makes the mistake of confusing democratic systems with economic systems, and using curious logic, he argues that only the European socialist model of economics is democratic. The author does not go into detail as to why this is so, and thus the reader is somewhat puzzled by it. There is also a rather unnerving passage near the end where the author lapses into a fantasy of how one day, the future EU president escorted by generals will be handed launch codes to EU atomic weapons in preparation to use them. I failed to see the relevance of this disturbing possibility in a book about economic rivalry. There is also a triumphalist statement towards the end of the book that because of the changing demographics of the USA, it will eventually be unable to challenge the EU. I find it extraordinary that the author doesn't mention that the EU is also in the grip of rapid demographic change, that similarly could have implications for its future geo-political clout.

All in all, the books lack of balance spoils what is in parts a genuinely thought provoking analysis, though it will be a useful read to students of trans-Atlantic relations, albeit they will have to take some of this book with a pinch of salt. No matter what an author's views on either the US or the EU, the author should try to be as balanced as possible, and not turn a book into a rant. This what stops me giving it full marks, but it is still very interesting.