INTERNATIONAL
America’s rising anti-Europeanism
Spring 2006
For so long the unquestioning supporters of European integration, US policymakers nowadays see the EU in an increasingly unsympathetic light. Peter van Ham, of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, charts the decline in transatlantic amity
Watch Fox News on TV, read the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal or listen to American radio talk shows and it all becomes clear: Europe is America’s rival, and is going to the dogs. Whether there is any causal relationship between these two “facts” is never clarified. But what started with pouring champagne into the gutter and renamingFrench fries “freedom fries” to show American discontent with President Chirac’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq, has turned into a groundswell of annoyance and pessimism in the US about Europe.
Europe is seen as decadent, complacent, lazy and - perhaps most damning of all - increasingly irrelevant. The present downbeat mood in Europe itself seems to confirm these attitudes. After the Franco-Dutch rejection of the EU’s constitutional treaty last summer, European integration looks to have run out of steam. High unemployment, low self-confidence and the shrinking European population stand in sharp contrast with the upbeat, booming Chinese market and the vista of a New American Century. What has Europe done to draw America’s scorn and contempt?
The main reason is that Europe has proven to be an untrustworthy ally in America’s hour of need. Most Americans consider the “war on terror” as pay-back time: After twice saving Europe from itself in world wars, and sheltering it under America’s nuclear umbrella during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, Europe’s fully-fledged backing was taken for granted when the US came under attack. So lacklustre support and growing criticism in Europe of Washington’s response to 9/11 were considered as little less than a betrayal. Europe’s truculence and disloyalty are seen to have wrecked the transatlantic relationship and strengthened the belief that America’s true allies are to be found elsewhere. Responses to 9/11 have been America’s strategic litmus test, and most European “allies” are deemed to have failed miserably. Only the United Kingdom and Poland proved themselves to be good apples in a rotten barrel.
For most Americans, London’s loyalty has been easy to explain. They point to a shared Anglo-Saxon culture of perseverance, the “spirit of the Blitz” and the widespread notion that the English Channel is psychologically wider than the Atlantic. For a while, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was more popular in the US than “war president” George W. Bush, strengthening calls for an “Alliance of Democracies” that would leave much of continental Europe to its own devices. Warsaw’s loyalty to the US was equally easy to explain. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously argued that the recent history of post-communist “New Europe” had taught them that evil had to be confronted and not appeased. This stood in stark contrast to the countries of “Old Europe” who were unable to think in terms of good and evil, and were hence prepared to strike Faustian deals just to save their own skins. From the perspective of the Bush Administration, both Britain and Poland could be trusted because they had not sold their souls to the “liberals in Brussels”; they had not turned into bleeding hearts but instead had retained a clear moral compass which pointed in America’s direction.
Meanwhile, the rest of Europe is fast disappearing from America’s strategic radar screen. Americans just can’t be bothered anymore with the troubles of Bosnia and Kosovo, especially with Iraq gradually turning into a new Vietnam. There is scarcely an American soldier left in the Balkans, and the region is now under the still feeble wings of the EU’s own defence structure. Most Americans seem puzzled by Europe’s self-absorbed tinkering with the EU's institutional set-up, and wonder why so much time was spent on preparing a glossy European Constitution when more obvious challenges were ignored. From Washington’s perspective, Europeans are rearranging their deckchairs while the Titanic of Western civilisation is approaching the iceberg of Islamic extremism.
Against this backdrop, America’s traditional Realists and Neo-conservatives have struck an unholy alliance by agreeing that Europe is both impotent and irrelevant. Realist scholars and policymakers (like Henry Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld) look at the widening gap between America and Europe in military hardware, technology and strategy, and question Europe’s ability to plug-and-play in future US-led interventions or wars. These hardliners take a detached look at Europe, and see a decaying continent lacking the political will and means to defend and assert itself in a changing strategic environment. They see an Old Continent struggling to maintain its comfortable welfare state system, but unable to attract the world’s young and smart. They therefore see Europe as demographically doomed to becoming grey and frail. Their impatience with Europe is not ideological but practical; neither the EU nor its member states can play a serious role in addressing America’s security challenges. And because there is no longer any reason to heed Europe’s counsels, both the EU and NATO are being transformed in the new American mind-set into fringe clubs whose support may be welcomed but whose criticisms safely ignored.
If the Realists regret Europe’s relative decline, the Neo-cons seem to take a keen pleasure in its troubles. Commentators like William Kristol view the rejection of the EU's constitutional treaty as “a moment of hope - for the prospects for a strong, pro-American, pro-liberty, more or less free-market and free-trade, socially and morally reinvigorated Europe.” Ever since 9/11, this kind of Neo-conservative thinking has informed America’s attitude towards Europe, changing it from a widely shared sympathy to the current mood of scepticism-cum-hostility. They consider Europe the frontline of political liberalism, of a dreaded philosophy which in today’s America is considered an “L-word” at best, and at worst a “mental illness”.
Underlying the Neo-cons' anti-Europeanism is an awareness that the EU represents a challenge to America’s worldview of hard-nosed realpolitik, in which military force determines the balance of power among states. The EU, by its very existence, opens the possibility of a totally different model which downplays force and realpolitik, and upgrades the role of law and trust. The European integration model is living proof that the rule of law, institutional arrangements and an elaborate diplomatic circus can tame nationalism and make military might well-nigh irrelevant. Given the open scepticism in Washington that strong international agreements and treaties can define security, and US unwillingness to recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court, the EU works as a red flag to a bull. Not only Washington’s Neo-cons but also the vast majority of mainstream hardliners now consider the EU as a provocation, weakening the moral fibre of a whole continent and undermining the Realist view in which the US can play the role of unrivalled hegemon.
All this explains why Washington’s anti-Europeanism is at times so vociferous and strident, and why even modest and well-meant European criticism of US foreign policy is felt like a blow to America’s moral authority. Condoleezza Rice was quoted in 2003 as advising President Bush “to punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia”. Although it proved rather difficult to officially ignore and punish, Washington did manage to openly rebuke Germany’s request to join the UN Security Council as a full member. Washington pundits, however, proved more creative in vilifying Europe, even going to the extreme by using the tarbrush of “anti-semitism”. Columnist Charles Krauthammer openly questioned whether it was any longer safe to be a Jew in today’s Europe. Here was a continent that indulged in postmodern complacency, questioned America’s judgement in the “war on terror” and did not support Israel. For those taking the time to connect the dots, the picture was all too clear: Europe’s anti-Americanism derives from duplicity and an historical disposition to side with the wrong causes. Washington also interpreted some EU countries’ misgivings over opening the Union's doors to Turkey as a sign that Europe defined itself as a claustrophobic continent closed to other religions, be they Islam or Judaism.
Since the Neo-con takeover of US policymaking toward Europe, the EU can no longer rely on America’s tacit support. US policymakers increasingly question whether further European integration is in America’s interest. Why would they back a common European foreign and security policy if this were to increase the nuisance power of spoilsports like France? Why would the US even want to buttress the EU’s economic power if Europe’s unspoken aim is to counterbalance Pax Americana and create what President Chirac and his Chinese and Russian colleagues label “a multipolar world”? Just as the European Commission blocked in 2001 General Electric’s $47bn takeover of Honeywell, the EU seems equally keen to block America’s other generals from imposing their “policy style” on the rest of the world. More often than not, Washington finds Europe in the opposite camp on issues as diverse as the democratisation of the Middle East, reforming the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and market-access for genetically modified cereals. If Europeans are so openly keen to bolster their Union to compete with the US on all fronts, say both America's Realists and Neo-cons, they may eventually get what they ask for - rivalry and, if need be, conflict.
Perhaps it is naïve, but in spite of Europe’s long-standing undercurrent of anti-Americanism, Europeans now appear stunned that the US is reciprocating in kind. The US has been one of the midwives of Europe’s post-World War II integration process, and has supported every step towards the unification of the continent. Washington’s was a “yes-but” approach, cajoling the EU forward as long as it fitted America’s broader strategic objectives. Winning the Cold War required closer European unity, just as for the EU containing a unified Germany has required further steps towards a European federation of sorts. But at each stage of integration, the US nudged Europeans along under the premise that what was good for Europe was equally good for America. Worryingly, this argument is now losing ground, perhaps even more quickly in Washington than in European capitals.
During the years of transatlantic “friendly fire”, one casualty stands out: mutual trust. Americans are upset that Europe has not backed them on Iraq, and instead is carping over alleged human rights violations. Now that the going is getting tough in Iraq, Europeans are saying “we told you so” instead of helping American soldiers by sending more troops of their own. With the ghosts of Vietnam returning to Washington, Europe is increasingly a scapegoat for America’s lack of judgement and success. It is one thing to see French and German leaders complaining about American hamfistedness, it is quite another to see their Schadenfreude.
The reasons for America’s rising anti-Europeanism are numerous and they are here to stay. Robert Kagan’s famous catchphrase, that Europeans are from Venus and Americans from Mars, proves to be true. Unlike Europe, America has declared itself at war, and is closing itself off from the rest of the world, physically as well as psychologically. It is becoming more difficult to enter the US now that a kind of siege-mentality is taking hold of bureaucrats and the general populace alike. Where Europe is removing borders, Americans are re-creating them, inside their heads as well as on the ground.
The rising tide of anti-Europeanism in the US is a clear sign that America’s foreign policy is becoming autistic, unwilling to listen to its own friends. America’s international image has never been so dismal, which indicates that Europe’s criticism of US foreign policy is not unique but part of a worldwide feeling that the only remaining superpower is getting out of control. It is always tricky to compare states with real people. Still, most Europeans now look at the US as a good friend who has turned himself away from them, and whose arrogance may well hide a deeply felt sense of insecurity, overcompensated by throwing its weight around. Rising anti-Europeanism indicates the closing of America’s mind, and we won’t see a festive reopening any time soon.