Current Affairs: Robert Kagan in his book Power and Paradise: America and Europe in the New World Order (Atlantic Books, 2003) argues that Europeans and Americans view the world and the exercise of power in world politics very differently.
Put simply, "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus". Mark Leonard's volume, Why Europe will Run the 21st Century, is a lively and incisive reply to Kagan; it is a view of the contemporary and future world order from Venus.
In less than 150 pages, Leonard makes the case for the "transformative power" of the EU and its current and future role in contributing to world order. Its title is intended to provoke as it goes against the grain of conventional wisdom about European power and potential. It is a book that celebrates the achievements of the European Union. Leonard distils the key characteristics of the EU that mould the way Europe acts both within the union and in the wider world. The central argument is that the European way of doing business will become the world's and hence there is the prospect of a new European century not through imperial power but through multilateralism and regionalism. Leonard robustly argues the case for this bold claim.
The book explores important themes, such as the nature of power, security, the role of the state and international organisations. It resonates with all of the important global issues of our day. Leonard builds his argument on the global role of the EU from the inside out by highlighting the fundamental attributes of the union. The two characteristics that stand out are the decentralised networked nature of the EU's structures and the role of law in providing the glue that holds the system together. The EU works not on the basis of transcending its member states but transforming them. It draws them into a web of shared values, mutual commitments and continuous negotiations.
According to Leonard, the EU has transformed the exercise of power in Europe and is now exporting this new concept of power beyond its borders. He contrasts the US approach of "power as spectacle" with the EU approach of "power as surveillance". Using a system of rewards, such as access to its markets and financial transfers, and conditions, the EU triggers deep change in those states wishing to join or establish association agreements with it. Having learnt from Srebrenica, the EU is building up a capacity for crisis intervention with the rapid reaction force.
There is considerable merit in the central thesis of the book. The EU has had a major impact on its neighbourhood. It is slowly trying to re-build the ravaged Balkans and is a beacon for democrats in the Ukraine and Georgia. Turkey, if it wishes to join, will have to complete its process of domestic reform. All states that engage with the EU must abide by the union's laws and norms. The EU is at its most powerful when it offers membership or at least the prospect of joining the club. Because of this, Leonard, argues that the EU should not rule out an eventual membership of 50. He pays little attention to how an EU of 50 might work. The union is already grappling with the challenge of increased scale following the 2004 enlargement.
Beyond its neighbour, Leonard envisages the EU playing an enhanced role in global politics by promoting a multi-polar world embedded in regional organisations like the EU, in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Regional organisations would become the foundation blocks of a new order. The emerging new powers, notably, China, India, and Brazil, would exercise their power through these organisations. Regional groupings have become a more prominent feature of world politics over the last 50 years as neighbouring states learn the virtues of co-operative relations and economic interdependence.
The Leonard thesis is an optimistic one about the EU, its role in the world and the future world order. It is a thesis that deserves to be treated seriously because the power and potential of the EU is all too often misrepresented and misunderstood. However, because Leonard wants to make the best possible case, there is a tendency to down play the challenges facing the EU. Europe is aging and its key economies are under-performing. Externally, its influence is greatest on its near neighbourhood, particularly its European neighbourhood. The European model cannot easily be exported throughout the globe because it is built on strong state capacity, the rule of law and democracy. Moreover, in the exercise of its economic power, the EU uses "hard power" to protect its economic interests and producers.
All those interested in global order, the role of the EU and Irish foreign policy should read this book and engage with its arguments. Too often in Ireland, the debate on global issues is reduced to ritualistic exchanges about Irish neutrality and the emerging European superpower. The world has moved on, it is time for the Irish debate to move on as well.
Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century by Mark Leonard Fourth Estate, 164pp. £8.99
Brigid Laffan is Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at University College Dublin