The Rebirth of Europe

Rating:
Summary: upbeat assessment of European integration
Review: As someone working daily in Brussels on European issues and with an interest in EU enlargement, i found this book a breath of fresh air amidst reading on all the problems the EU has to face in enlargement. The author gives a convincingly upbeat and positive assessment of how far the CEECs have come in terms of institution building for democracy and the rule of law, of protection of minorities and human rights, and a (historically new) willingness to work with each other to resolve outstanding and often very old historical conflicts, often related ot minorities and borders. This new phenomenon is at least partly due to the incentive of prospects for EU Membership. The political Copenhagen Criteria set out for EU Membership apperently prove to be succesful at least in this respect. This is not to say that many economic and political issues are resolved, nor that these countries now or even soon will meet all the criteria. But the progress in many CEECs in such fields as democracy and human rights has indeed been remarkable, and that needs to be acknowledged and welcomed.

In terms of pure analysis the book is perhaps not so strong, but then again it is not meant for academia but for a more general public. I think the author, whose journalistic background shines through, does an excellent job in bringing a positive antidote to Euro-pessimism on enlargement.

Rating:
Summary: Book Review: The Ribirth of Europe
Review: In her book, The Rebirth of Europe, Elizabeth Pond provides a great overview of the many issues and underlying dynamics facing the European Union (EU) and Europe, presently. In ten chapters, she encapsulates history, European and American perceptions, domestic politics, European Monetary Union (EMU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the European Strategic Defense Initiative (ESDI). Although she covers these and many other issues in-depth, she paints a rather optimistic future for both the EU and Europe without fully addressing the impact of certain salient underlying factors that she does touch on. These are domestic politics, nationalism, institutionalism, the modern social welfare state, as well as the trans-Atlantic defense capabilities gap.
In Chapters 1-5, Pond covers the evolution of Europe and the EU from very early history through the creation of the EMU. In doing this, she touches on a wide range of issues. Of note is her discourse on how the perceptions of Europe's bloody and fragmented past impact on both the modern European and American psyches. Furthermore, her work is exceedingly well documented and thorough, especially Chapter 4, Post-Cold War NATO. Her writings on NATO enlargement and ESDI are very much in synchronization with the current literature on these "hot" topics from a macro view.
Chapters 6-10 are also well done. They cover Central and Eastern Europe, the EMU, as well as ESDI and NATO in relation to current trans-Atlantic relations. However, the three-page Chapter 10, Epilogue, is rather weak for the concluding chapter of such a thoroughly encompassing and well-researched book. Additionally, it tends to contradict itself as Pond goes to great lengths summing up some of the significant pitfalls facing Europe and concludes with two very terse sentences: "Europe remains a work in-progress. So far, it seems condemned to succeed." Unfortunately, this is the problem with the entire book.

In Chapter 1, Pond states, "intellectually it is less risky to be pessimistic than to be optimistic." Thus, she seems determined, despite the fact that she, herself, addresses significant pitfalls facing the EU, Europe, and the trans-Atlantic relationship, determined to be unabashedly optimistic instead of cautiously optimistic, or even somewhat pessimistic. First, she addresses nationalism, in the form of the modern day Flemish and Wallonian separatists' movements in Belgium. These movements are spawned in large part due to taxes. (Modern day Flanders' carries the lion's share of the tax burden for the whole of Belgium.) Thus, when Pond discusses EU institutional enlargement, the high unemployment rates prevalent in Europe today, the need for the EU or European countries to upgrade their military capacity, and the EU Central Bank's unresponsiveness to some of these problems, she neglects to intermesh these fiscal issues with salient political or fiscal solutions that the reader can understand. Furthermore, she fails to even broach the subject of how these issues are to be resolved without jeopardizing the foundations of the modern social welfare state (i.e., free health care, exorbitant unemployment benefits, etc...). Finally, she fails to address an even larger problem within this framework; the large numbers of immigrants form Africa and the Middle East, who come to Europe seeking these benefits and their impact on European nationalism.
Next, Pond stresses the importance of leadership throughout her book, whether it is individual or national. She cites examples of Adenauer, Kohl, Mitterand, and DeGaulle, all at times taking up the mantle of EU leadership, despite widespread domestic animosity, to further the greater good of the EU and Europe. However, she then states that there are no new great politicians/ statesmen of this caliber in present day Europe, who are willing to fly in the face of certain domestic political death for the greater good. This is not consistent for the prevailing view of optimism that Pond wishes to connote.
Finally, although Pond does a good job of addressing NATO, ESDI, and the trans-Atlantic relationship, once again, she does not convince the reader that the problems surrounding these issues are easily surmountable. First, is the military capability gap between Europe and the United States (US). While Pond does a good job of citing the problems and stated intellectual workarounds (i.e., Heisbourg's proposals for Europe to develop professional armies and European defense industrial consolidation to avoid redundancy ), she does not take into account the economic costs, both domestically and politically, nor the effects of globalization (corporate mergers, multi-national corporations) on such intellectual proposals. Furthermore, she does not take into account the risks associated with sharing the technology to upgrade European weapons systems to the caliber of US weapons systems in the form of security leaks when a large number of states become involved.
In the end, Pond's book is an excellent work for readers seeking a greater understanding of the issues facing modern Europe and the trans-Atlantic relationship. However, it fails to make one, who is somewhat knowledgeable in European affairs, feel as optimistic about Europe's future as Pond does. Had Pond taken time to further address some of the issues outlined above in her Epilogue, with cogent solutions, the book would be a powerful work indeed. As it stands, her work leaves a somewhat educated reader wondering if Pond is too optimistic about Europe's future. This writer, although optimistic as well, is not as optimistic as Pond. The issues facing Europe are real, multi-faceted, and exceedingly interlaced to be simply congealed as solvable in the short-run. Pond is right that Europe is a work in progress, but a work that will take significantly longer than Pond implies, especially if Europe and the EU does suffer a significant setback any of the issue areas Pond addresses.

Rating:
Summary: Book Review: The Ribirth of Europe
Review: In her book, The Rebirth of Europe, Elizabeth Pond provides a great overview of the many issues and underlying dynamics facing the European Union (EU) and Europe, presently. In ten chapters, she encapsulates history, European and American perceptions, domestic politics, European Monetary Union (EMU), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the European Strategic Defense Initiative (ESDI). Although she covers these and many other issues in-depth, she paints a rather optimistic future for both the EU and Europe without fully addressing the impact of certain salient underlying factors that she does touch on. These are domestic politics, nationalism, institutionalism, the modern social welfare state, as well as the trans-Atlantic defense capabilities gap.
In Chapters 1-5, Pond covers the evolution of Europe and the EU from very early history through the creation of the EMU. In doing this, she touches on a wide range of issues. Of note is her discourse on how the perceptions of Europe's bloody and fragmented past impact on both the modern European and American psyches. Furthermore, her work is exceedingly well documented and thorough, especially Chapter 4, Post-Cold War NATO. Her writings on NATO enlargement and ESDI are very much in synchronization with the current literature on these "hot" topics from a macro view.
Chapters 6-10 are also well done. They cover Central and Eastern Europe, the EMU, as well as ESDI and NATO in relation to current trans-Atlantic relations. However, the three-page Chapter 10, Epilogue, is rather weak for the concluding chapter of such a thoroughly encompassing and well-researched book. Additionally, it tends to contradict itself as Pond goes to great lengths summing up some of the significant pitfalls facing Europe and concludes with two very terse sentences: "Europe remains a work in-progress. So far, it seems condemned to succeed." Unfortunately, this is the problem with the entire book.

In Chapter 1, Pond states, "intellectually it is less risky to be pessimistic than to be optimistic." Thus, she seems determined, despite the fact that she, herself, addresses significant pitfalls facing the EU, Europe, and the trans-Atlantic relationship, determined to be unabashedly optimistic instead of cautiously optimistic, or even somewhat pessimistic. First, she addresses nationalism, in the form of the modern day Flemish and Wallonian separatists' movements in Belgium. These movements are spawned in large part due to taxes. (Modern day Flanders' carries the lion's share of the tax burden for the whole of Belgium.) Thus, when Pond discusses EU institutional enlargement, the high unemployment rates prevalent in Europe today, the need for the EU or European countries to upgrade their military capacity, and the EU Central Bank's unresponsiveness to some of these problems, she neglects to intermesh these fiscal issues with salient political or fiscal solutions that the reader can understand. Furthermore, she fails to even broach the subject of how these issues are to be resolved without jeopardizing the foundations of the modern social welfare state (i.e., free health care, exorbitant unemployment benefits, etc...). Finally, she fails to address an even larger problem within this framework; the large numbers of immigrants form Africa and the Middle East, who come to Europe seeking these benefits and their impact on European nationalism.
Next, Pond stresses the importance of leadership throughout her book, whether it is individual or national. She cites examples of Adenauer, Kohl, Mitterand, and DeGaulle, all at times taking up the mantle of EU leadership, despite widespread domestic animosity, to further the greater good of the EU and Europe. However, she then states that there are no new great politicians/ statesmen of this caliber in present day Europe, who are willing to fly in the face of certain domestic political death for the greater good. This is not consistent for the prevailing view of optimism that Pond wishes to connote.
Finally, although Pond does a good job of addressing NATO, ESDI, and the trans-Atlantic relationship, once again, she does not convince the reader that the problems surrounding these issues are easily surmountable. First, is the military capability gap between Europe and the United States (US). While Pond does a good job of citing the problems and stated intellectual workarounds (i.e., Heisbourg's proposals for Europe to develop professional armies and European defense industrial consolidation to avoid redundancy ), she does not take into account the economic costs, both domestically and politically, nor the effects of globalization (corporate mergers, multi-national corporations) on such intellectual proposals. Furthermore, she does not take into account the risks associated with sharing the technology to upgrade European weapons systems to the caliber of US weapons systems in the form of security leaks when a large number of states become involved.
In the end, Pond's book is an excellent work for readers seeking a greater understanding of the issues facing modern Europe and the trans-Atlantic relationship. However, it fails to make one, who is somewhat knowledgeable in European affairs, feel as optimistic about Europe's future as Pond does. Had Pond taken time to further address some of the issues outlined above in her Epilogue, with cogent solutions, the book would be a powerful work indeed. As it stands, her work leaves a somewhat educated reader wondering if Pond is too optimistic about Europe's future. This writer, although optimistic as well, is not as optimistic as Pond. The issues facing Europe are real, multi-faceted, and exceedingly interlaced to be simply congealed as solvable in the short-run. Pond is right that Europe is a work in progress, but a work that will take significantly longer than Pond implies, especially if Europe and the EU does suffer a significant setback any of the issue areas Pond addresses.