Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem PDF
Preview Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem
Anti-Americanism in Europe hoover classics The Hoover Classics series will reissue se- lected books of lasting merit and influence from the list of previous Hoover Institution Press publications. The aim of the series is to engender new interest in these titles and expand the readership to a wider audi- ence—in some cases, to a new generation. Additionally, it is hoped that by extending thelifeofthesebooks,theywillcontinueto contribute to free discussion and debate on important issues of publicpolicyandhistor- ical understanding. Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka, The Flat Tax, second edition Richard Epstein, Free Markets Under Siege: Cartels, Politics, and Social Welfare Russell A. Berman, Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem Anti-Americanism in Europe A Cultural Problem Russell A. Berman HOOVER INSTITUTION PRESS Stanford University Stanford,California TheHooverInstitutiononWar,RevolutionandPeace,founded atStanfordUniversityin1919byHerbertHoover,whowenton tobecomethethirty-firstpresidentoftheUnitedStates,isan interdisciplinaryresearchcenterforadvancedstudyondomestic andinternationalaffairs.Theviewsexpressedinitspublicationsare entirelythoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviews ofthestaff,officers,orBoardofOverseersoftheHooverInstitution. www.hoover.org HooverInstitutionPressPublicationNo.527 Copyright(cid:2)2008bytheBoardofTrusteesofthe LelandStanfordJuniorUniversity Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybe reproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutwritten permissionofthepublisher. Firstedition,2004 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements oftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences— PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992.(cid:3)(cid:2) LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Berman,RussellA.,1950– Anti-AmericanisminEurope:aculturalproblem/byRussellA.Berman. p. cm.—(Hooverinstitutionpresspublication;527)(Hooverclassics) Originallypublished:Stanford,Calif.:HooverInstitutionPress,2004. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13:978-0-8179-4511-4(cloth:alk.paper) 1. Anti-Americanism—Europe. 2. Anti-Americanism—Germany. 3. Europe—Relations—UnitedStates. 4. UnitedStates—Relations—Europe. 5. UnitedStates—Politicsandgovernment—2001—Publicopinion. 6. United States—Foreignpublicopinion,European. 7. Publicopinion—Europe. I. Title. D1065.U5B442008 303.48(cid:2)214073—dc22 2007034005 Anearlierversionofchapter3,“DemocraticWar,RepressivePeace:OnReally ExistingAnti-Americanism,”appearedinGermaninthejournalMerkur (“DemokratischerKrieg,repressiverFrieden:u¨berdenrealexistierenden Antiamerikanismus,”Merkur57[July2003]:570–582);anearlierversionof chapter4,“SaddamasHitler,”appearedinthejournalTelos(“Saddamand Hitler:RethinkingTotalitarianism,”Telos125[Fall2002]:121–139). Contents Introduction to the Hoover Classics Edition vii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xv 1. The German Perception of the United States since September 11 and the European Context 1 2. Not Just a Friendly Disagreement: Anti-Americanism as Obsession 37 3. Democratic War, Repressive Peace: On Really Existing Anti-Americanism 65 4. Saddam as Hitler 97 5. Anti-Americanism and the Movement against Globalization 135 Bibliography 171 Index 177 Introduction to the Hoover Classics Edition The idea for this book was born in Paris in 2001, where I was living when the attacks of September 11 took place. There I could observe first-hand the trans- formation of French attitudes toward the United States, which changed from an initial and genuine sympathy fortheirlong-termally,facingviolentterroristattackson a previously unknown scale, into a bitter animosity that for many burgeoned into an irrational anti-American- ism. The book was completed in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq as the wave of anti-AmericanisminEu- rope grew to a crescendo. Some of American’s oldest friends had suddenly becomes our most derisive oppo- nents; that hostility naturally elicited among many Americans a deep sense of betrayal. Other Americans, however, chose to seize on European anti-Americanism as a political cudgel, blaming it on the policies of the administration in Washington. ThisbookarguesthatthedeepculturalrootsofEur- opean anti-Americanism predate contemporary partisan concerns. Ofcourse, thereisalwaysroomtodebatepar- ticular policies, but European political culture fre- quently draws on a reservoir of stereotypes and carica- tures about the United States that can mobilize an viii Anti-Americanism in Europe underlying animosity. Certainly, not all Europeans are anti-American, but we should be aware that, in the proper circumstances, some European politicians will likely opt to play the “anti-American card,” if it benefits them, especially at election time. In 2002, Jacques Chirac pursued this strategy in France, as did Gerhard Schro¨der in Germany, and both won electoralvictories. Interestingly, both are now out of office—Schro¨der promptly landed himself a lucrative job working for the Russian energy industry, but poor Chirac is, as of this writing, caught up in a criminal investigationofgovern- ment corruption—their successors,NicolasSarkozyand Angela Merkl, have, to their credit, refused to engage in similar opportunistic appeals to anti-American senti- ments. This is not to say that they automatically hew to American policy. Sarkozy and Merkl are independent thinkers with strong personalities who surely will not take orders from Washington. They do not, however, translate legitimate policy disputes into transatlantic name-calling. Not that they lack for opportunity. Anti-American feelingisgreatinWesternEurope.Infact,despitesome moderationintheso-called“unilateralism”ofAmerican foreign policy and an enhanced effectiveness of Ameri- can diplomacy during George W. Bush’s second term, European attitudes toward the United States have con- tinued to worsen. According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, between 2003 and 2007 favorable at- titudes to the United States have dropped in France from 42 percent to 39 percent, in Germany from 45 percent to 30 percent, and even in England from 70 Introduction to the Hoover Classics Edition ix percent to 51 percent.1 Politicians or journalists who might want to stir an anti-American pot continue to have a lot to work with. YetthisproblemisnotonlyaboutEuropeanculture and political processes. The phenomenon ofanti-Amer- icanism in Europe has been explicitly politicized indo- mestic U.S. debates through the frequent (butnonethe- less erroneous) argument that Bush administration policies, having squandered European good-will, are fully responsible for the anti-Americanchorus.Notonly is this argument untenable because of thedeepcultural roots of anti-Americanism, described in this book, butit also omits important data that frame and relativize the European problem. Although European attitudes to- ward the United States continue to decline, in Africa, by way of contrast, approval rates of America are atnear record highs: 70 percent in Nigeria, 80 percent in Ghana, 88 percent in the Ivory Coast. In the world’s largest democracy, India, favorable views of the United States are at 59 percent, slightly up from the previous year. Even in Venezuela, despite the rhetoric of Hugo Chavezandhisclampdownonopponentsinthemedia, 56percentratetheUnitedStatesfavorably.IfitisAmer- ican policies that influence attitudes to the United States—theargumentmadeinreferencetoWesternEu- rope—then something must be working well in other parts of the world. Alternatively one could also con- clude—to my mind, correctly—that European anti- 1. http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/256.pdf
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