13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
American neo-Liberalism or European Social Democracy?, 19 Nov 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The World We're in (Hardcover)
The title is a misnomer: it's really about the growing political and ideological divide between the USA and the EU, with a much useful debunking of right wing myths (including Third Way ones). Hutton's central argument is that Europe's post-war 'social democratic' consensus has produced a model of capitalism distinct from that of the US, and that Britain must finally choose. This is vintage Hutton, combining serious research, theoretically informed argument and an acute journalistic sense of timing and relevance. Worth having on your shelf for the bibliography alone. You may not agree with everything he says, but then that's the whole point!
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The World We're In, 12 Jun 2003
This is an impressive book. Anyone interested in understanding, among other things, how and why the US has come under near complete corporate control during the last thirty years should read Hutton's analysis. It's first rate both in its depth and breath: social, cultural, political, financial and economic. As an American, I am very impressed by how well Hutton understands what's going on here. His view is more lucid - and more clearly and passionately presented - than just about anything I've seen by American writers. And I do hope UK readers will heed his advice to move British politics and culture away from US domination.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful and Timely, 19 May 2002
This review is from: The World We're in (Hardcover)
Cannot fault Will Hutton for ambition. His analysis is detailed and wide ranging. He cannot just be dismissed as Anti-American as he elucidates many times his admiration for much of US economic and technological achievement.
Clearly, this book will be hated by the right, and anyone in the US or UK who supports the neo-liberal "washington consensus".
His description of the political/economic processes that have driven the washington consensus over the last 30 years is excellent, and much of his material uses US sources.
Hutton does not hide his disdain for neo-liberal economics, or the "chicago school", and he raises questions about the prevailing orthodoxy and ideology of the concensus that drives most international financial institutions. But his personal position is made open and clear, and the purpose of the book is to drive forward debate in europe and particularly the UK. In this the book succeeds.
His contention, backed by prodigious evidence, is that the UK national interest is more aligned with europe than with the US, and future economic and political developments are likely to make it increasingly necessary for the UK to understand that its culture and history is tied to europe, and the "idea of europe".
Hutton's description of the historical and cultural roots of europe's "social contract" is thought provoking, and even historians will find this interesting and informative. He shows how the UK is far closer to this conception politically and culturally than the prevailing consensus now driving political economy in the US.
There is much to think about in this book. It is well worth reading as much for its accessible style as for the importance of its subject matter.
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