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Robert Kagan
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Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order Hardcover – 28 Feb. 2003

by Robert Kagan (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 90 ratings

After years of mutual resentment and tension, there is a sudden recognition that the real interests of America and its allies are diverging sharply and that the transatlantic relationship itself has changed, possibly irreversibly. Europe sees the United States as high-handed, unilateralist, and recklessly belligerent; the United States sees Europe as spent, unserious and weak. The anger and mistrust on both sides are hardening into incomprehension.

In the influential journal Policy Review, the heavyweight commentator Robert Kagan analysed this impasse so incisively that each side was able to see themselves through the eyes of the other. Tracing the widely differing histories of America and Europe since the end of the Second World War, Kagan makes clear how Europe's need to escape a bloody past has led to a new set of beliefs about conflict, power and threat, while at the same time, the United States has evolved into the guarantor of the European order by dint of its might and global reach. This remarkable analysis is already being discussed by governments from Washington to Tokyo. It is essential reading.

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  1. Print length
    112 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Atlantic Books
  4. Publication date
    28 Feb. 2003
  5. ISBN-10
    1843541777
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1843541776
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Product description

Amazon Review

From the beginning of George W Bush's presidency there has been a profound unease in relations between Europe and the United States. Robert Kagan's Paradise & Power: America and Europe in the New World Order offers a diagnosis and prognosis of the current malaise, which recent events such as Bush's "axis of evil" speech and UN divisions over Iraq have made even worse. Kagan argues that the 20th century has seen an inversion of history, whereby the once great, imperial, war-mongering powers of the 19th century (Britain, France and Germany) have become doves and multi-lateralists and the precocious and defenceless small power of the earlier era (America) has become a military and economic giant, hawkish and resolute in its defence of global security.

Europe (or more specifically France and Germany), Kagan argues, have learned that nation-states must live together or die, while America has come to rely on the blunt diplomacy of the pre-emptive strike. Europeans resent America for its bully-boy tactics; Americans get fed up with whining Europeans who would not enjoy their freedom to moan but for the post-1945 umbrella of NATO security. Kagan is wise and perceptive throughout his long essay and pleads reasonably that the US and the EU must develop a common policy that recognises their historical and strategic differences. He is a realist and there is little of the triumphalism to be found in similar recent works by American foreign policy experts such as Francis Fukuyama. Kagan is good on the military and diplomatic aspects of the question, but brushes over the resentments fuelled by America's MacDonaldisation of European culture. --Miles Taylor

Review

'Anyone looking for an intellectual primer to explain the geo-political forces at work in the Iraqi conflict should order a copy' -- Sunday Telegraph

'Brilliant.' -- Francis Fukuyama

'Come the hour, come the book... A penetrating effort to shed some light on the confusion in transatlantic affairs.' -- Raymond Seitz, The Times

'No piece in this realm has generated quite as much heat and interest since Samuel Huntingdon or Francis Fukuyama.' -- New York Times

'One of those seminal treatises without which any discussion of European-American relations would be incomplete.' -- Henry Kissinger

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 28 Feb. 2003
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Main
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1843541777
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1843541776
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 227 g
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 90 ratings

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Robert Kagan

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4.3 out of 5 stars
90 global ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • M. Johnson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 May 2010
    Excellent condition and one of the must have books for students of politics and international relations. Whether you are studying American/European relations or simply global power politics, this is the book for you. Kagan along with Cooper's 'The Breaking of Nations', sit cofortably alongside other great works such as Francis Fukuyama's 'The End of History' and Huntington's controversial 'The Clash of Civilisations'. Although i don't always agree with what Kagan says, you cannot deny he makes excellent points and discusses in-depth topics that are often dismissed as 'dealt with' in a new inspiring way. The book is cen tred around Kagan's realist outlook, yet unlike other realist works, he recognises the faults of the US as well as Europe in today's modern world. Again, i cannot reccommend this book highly enough; short, concise,easy reading and above all original in its thinking.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • M. McManus
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting analysis with implicit pro-American conclusion reached
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2007
    Verified Purchase
    This book essentially has three hypotheses: firstly, that with the end of the Cold War, America no longer has to compromise with the Europeans, as there is no enemy against which a united "West" has to present a united front. Secondly, that the EU has developed an obsession with controlling the US by trying to force it to work through the UN where the EU at least in theory has some power. Finally, that Americans believe that war is acceptable to enforce liberal values, whilst the EU is very averse to warfare.

    The author is not afraid to attack what he sees as European naivety and ingratitude. For example, he asks why the EU is so upset about there only being one superpower, when that superpower is America, and not a potentially much worse country. He also seems puzzled by Europe's refusal to spend more on their military, claiming that 60 years of peace in Europe have led Europeans to dangerously underestimate the potential threats from zones outside Europe. He also argues that Europeans want to have their cake and eat it: protected from attack by the USA, whilst at the same time criticising the methods of that protection.

    He also argues that European governments do not have the reverence for the UN they often claim. For example, the author argues that the Europeans had no problem fighting in Kosovo without a UN resolution to do so when it suited their national interests. Conversely, the Americans often have more reverence for the UN than the Europeans, often trying to work through it. Therefore, some stereotypical views of the US and EU relationship with the UN are challenged in a thought provoking manner.

    The book does have its weaknesses. Firstly, it is very brief, and one feels that the author could have said a lot more. Also, there are no index or reference pages, meaning finding a point of interest to refer back to can be rather time consuming.

    All in all, the book is an excellent read for those interested in the relationship between the US and the EU. Pro-Americans will especially enjoy this book, as the author implies heavily that the American way of doing things is more realistic, albeit he never explicitly says so. His closing passage is particularly damning and thought provoking.
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  • Jake Cheetham
    5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced essay
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2005
    Kagan lucidly explains the current transatlantic divide with ever-increasing detail. He logically seeks the root of the current problem in world affairs and justifies American action. With a brief reference to Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" he ends with the real point of the book, that of whether the ideology of Europe, unwillingly mutated and fostered by the United States, has changed significantly and/or irreversibly enough to turn the two into separate civilizations. Does "the West" remain?, is the first point he begins to close with, but for those seeking to criticize the unilateral action of the United States the stance taken by Kagan is that the ideology of those belonging to the current Western hegemony need not be applied to those outside of it when protection is needed. A practicable view when so few states in current global affairs are obeying the naive attempt to bind the whole world in one ideology-the United Nations.
    Throughout the book Kagan contines to refer to the same events in Euro-American history to back up his theory, as he moves continually forward. Stylistically, the main feat of the book is to move fluidly from one point to the next in a logical fashion that does not get bogged down with too many examples. His points are terse, relevant and clear.
    It is too difficult to say whether this book is a polemic or not, but when Kagan ends on the surprisingly gentle note of "a little common understanding could still go a long way" it becomes clear that the real question asked is "is "the West" still bound by the same ideology?" All the book might seem to say no, but the last paragraph or so seems to say yes. This considered does religion bind, and will it continue to do so?, "the West", and if it does, will this be a serious enough difference in ideology from nation-state to nation-state in the future to induce the "Clash of Civilizations"?
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  • SavvyShopper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Analysis of the Euro-American Relationship
    Reviewed in the United States on 25 March 2003
    Verified Purchase
    Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order
    Robert Kagan
    Albert A. Knopf, 2003.
    103 pages.
    In the months prior to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, European statesmen captured headlines as they expressed their solidarity in rejecting American appeals for decisive action. What was first European reluctance slowly degenerated into acrimonious debate and intransigence, which exposed the previously latent distrust between continental Europeans and Americans. Robert Kagan, a monthly columnist for the Washington Post, explores the sources of this trans-Atlantic conflict in his brilliant essay, Of Paradise and Power. Kagan's analysis of the American and European psyches is incisive. Although both communities are "children of the Enlightenment" with a common cultural and philosophical lineage, Kagan argues that their dissimilar histories and current geopolitical realities have created deep and lasting fissures in the trans-Atlantic relationship. Kagan opines, "On the all-important question of power---the efficacy of power, the morality of power, the desirability of power---American and European perspectives are diverging." Although the existence of a Euro-American tension is readily apparent to any informed person, Kagan elucidates the debate with his unique perspective as an expatriate and gifted scholar.
    The concatenation of sheer desperation (distilled from centuries of internecine conflict) with brave diplomacy transformed cautious steps toward cooperation in the form of the European Steel and Coal Community to the current European Union. Economic unification led to tentative first steps towards political unification in the form of supranational organizations which led many foreign policy mavens to believe that the emergence of a powerful European bloc capable of rivaling the United States was within sight. The Balkans crisis served as the first true test of European power. Confronted with real challenges within their own continent, Europeans exposed their own "military incapacity and disarray" , undoubtedly products of decades of neglect in defense spending in the member countries. With the NATO air campaign in Kosovo, Europeans were confronted with the awful truth that their "ability and will...to project decisive force into regions of conflict...were negligible" compared to their technologically superior American allies. As Americans engaged in a decades long armaments race with their Communist foe, Europeans enjoyed relative peace and prosperity under the American nuclear umbrella, indeed a "sizable peace dividend" , as they devoted their energies to economic rehabilitation and social welfare programs. According to Kagan, the existence of an almost insurmountable Euro-American gap in military hardware and force projection capabilities is a primary but not exclusive source of trans-Atlantic tension.
    Significant corollaries to this "power gap" are the resulting divergent perspectives on the utility of military force and perceptions of threats to security. Lacking the military means to significantly influence, let alone resolve, international conflicts, Europeans have adopted "strategies of the weak" . Europeans abjure the use of military power and opt instead for resolutions that appeal to their strengths: diplomacy and economic inducements. Alternatively, America's "unipolar moment has an entirely natural and predictable consequence: It makes the United States more willing to use force abroad."
    This disparity also leads to the paradox of power. Europeans, though militarily impotent, have a higher threshold for perceived threats to security than do Americans. Raising the bar lowers the occurrence, which appeals to a continent self-conscious of their declining military. In contrast, America's "unipolar moment" and economic prosperity not only make her more vulnerable to attacks of jealousy and rage as in September 11, but also equip her with Roosevelt's "big stick", capable of decisive action anywhere on the globe.
    Kagan's examination of Europe's philosophical evolution is particularly insightful. The authors of Machtpolitik and raison d'etat, Europeans finally realized the futility of militarism and power politics following the sheer scale and scope of the horrors they witnessed in the twentieth century. Kagan quotes a senior British diplomat Robert Cooper, "In the `postmodern world' raison d'etat and the amorality of Machiavelli's theories of statecraft...have been replaced by a moral consciousness." Kagan argues that the "power gap" alone does not explain European unwillingness to even attempt to compete as a dominant military power. For much of Europe, the first half of the twentieth century is remembered with revulsion, and "the modern European strategic culture represents a conscious rejection of the European past, a rejection of the evils of European Machtpolitik." In their current bliss free from the fires of war and conflict, Europeans willingly traded Hobbes for Kant in their pursuit of the "state of universal peace".
    Kagan's seminal essay on the historical and philosophical foundations of the current Euro-American split is brilliant in its analysis and content. He provides order to the current debate and his blend of realism and idealism (although more former than latter) resonates with the current tenor of American sentiment and more importantly, diplomacy. His roadmap for repairing the current split, though assuredly not palatable to all, is sound. Kagan advocates American sensitivity to European concerns when American vital interests are not at stake and pursuit of a unilateralist policy when it does. For Europe, Kagan encourages "the atavistic impulses that still swirl in the hearts of Germans, Britons, and Frenchmen" and rearm in order to regain influence commensurate to their economic and moral status. But most of all, "the task, for both Europeans and Americans, is to readjust to the new reality of American hegemony." Perhaps then, both Europe and America will realize their interdependence. After all, a paradise without power is a short-lived one, and power without hope of paradise is simply un-American.
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  • Kai
    5.0 out of 5 stars Basic
    Reviewed in Germany on 6 December 2017
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    Grundlagenliteratur für jeden Politikwissenschaftler oder politisch Interessierten, wenn es an die transatlantischen Beziehungen. Vor allem seine Sicht auf 9/11 ist zentral.
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  • recluse
    5.0 out of 5 stars 短いながら多層的な読み方ができる本です
    Reviewed in Japan on 5 April 2003
    Verified Purchase
    一日でアッというまに読めてしまう小冊子ながら、この本はいろいろな角度から読むことができます。ある意味ではgeorge Kennnan のＸ論文が直接には対ソ”封じ込め政策”の提唱でありながら、同時にロシア史並びに共産主義権力の哲学的な解説でもあったように。この本も、直接には、当面の対イラク政策をめぐる時事的な争点をめぐる対立を扱いながらも、その底流には軍事力の効用と問題解決の手段としてのその必要性についての深刻な意見の対立がアメリカと欧州の間にあることを指摘しています。著者は厳しく西欧の偽善性を批判します。ＥＵ並びにドイツ問題自体の解決がアメリカの軍事力とコミットメントがあってこそ解決できたのに、そのコインの裏側を見ずに、そのポジの部分だけを強調し、そのポジの部分を能天気に非西欧に適用しようとする西欧の偽善性と知的退廃がその著者の批判の対象です。著者はその偽善性が実は西欧自身のself interestに基づいていることも決して忘れません。と同時に軍事力を使わない紛争解決は、文化的価値を共有している共同体の間でのみ可能であること。そして現在の西欧の紛争解決のアプローチの非西欧文化圏への適応は、無責任であり、プラクティカルではなく、また結果として道徳的ではない、ことを指摘します。
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  • Miguel Angel Velasco Lopez
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent understanding of the coincidences and diferentes viewing the global affairs from Europe and from EEUU
    Reviewed in Spain on 1 November 2019
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    A new different perspective for me
    Perhaps some ideas is possible to find in so many different chapters in the book.
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  • Philip A. True
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Analysis of America versus Europe
    Reviewed in the United States on 18 April 2003
    Verified Purchase
    Robert Kagan's slim book, an expanded version of an essay appearing originally in "Policy Review," is a brilliant assessment of the relationship between Western Europe and the United States and the reasons for the differing outlooks and the resulting policies. Essentially, Kagan views the problem as one in which since World War II the United States has had predominant military power, Europe far less and in recent times European military strength has waned due to America's increasing and vastly superior military technology. Therefore, Europe views the world and its problems without the military means to threaten the unruly. Consequently, diplomacy, the United Nations Security Council, and compromise are the only ways that the Europeans can deal with foreign policy crises. America, with its mobile forces and its overwhelming air superiority, is much freerer and more willing to threaten and project military force to meet its objectives--or to thwart those of others. Kagan notes that the present is a role reversal--Europe in the 19th and early 20th Century had great military power--the great period of European colonization--while the US was relatively weak militarily and relied on diplomacy, international law, and the helpful presence of the British fleet in our foreign policy adventures.
    This book is timely in view of recent events in American-European relations. Although Kagan suggests that the strains in our relationships have been there all along and would have boiled over regardless of who was in power in the United States, this seems questionable in that the present Bush Administration has needlessly "dissed" Europe and the Europeans and therefore made it more difficult in the short run to have some form of unity and cooperation in dealing with major problems. Previous administrations had their difficulties with the Europeans, but in most cases have been able to deal with difficult issues in more traditional ways without needless offense to those who disagreed.
    Kagan writes clearly and succinctly, occasionally citing other sources, but without the train of explanatory footnotes or endnotes that often clog the foreign policy pronouncements of others. Kagan has thought long and hard about the issues; the result is an exemplary example of distilling your views into clear, readable prose.
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