Product Description

From a leading scholar of our country’s foreign policy, the brilliant essay about America and the world that has caused a storm in international circles now expanded into book form.

European leaders, increasingly disturbed by U.S. policy and actions abroad, feel they are headed for what the New York Times (July 21, 2002) describes as a “moment of truth.” 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 trans-atlantic relationship itself has changed, possibly irreversibly. Europe sees the United States as high-handed, unilateralist, and unnecessarily belligerent; the United States sees Europe as spent, unserious, and weak. The anger and mistrust on both sides are hardening into incomprehension.

This past summer, in Policy Review, Robert Kagan reached incisively into this impasse to force both sides to see themselves through the eyes of the other. Tracing the widely differing histories of Europe and America since the end of World War II, he makes clear how for one the need to escape a bloody past has led to a new set of transnational beliefs about power and threat, while the other has perforce evolved into the guarantor of that “postmodern paradise” by dint of its might and global reach. This remarkable analysis is being discussed from Washington to Paris to Tokyo. It is esssential reading.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #349916 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-28
• Released on: 2003-01-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 112 pages

Amazon.com Review
From its opening-line salvo—"It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world"—Of Paradise and Power announces a new phase in the relationship between the United States and Europe. Robert Kagan begins this illuminating essay by laying out the general differences as he sees them: the U.S. is quicker to use military force, less patient with diplomacy, and more willing to coerce (or bribe) other nations in order to get a desired result. Europe, on the other hand, places greater emphasis on diplomacy, takes a much longer view of history and problem solving, and has greater faith in international law and cooperation. Kagan does not view these differences as the result of innate national character, but as a time-honored historical reality--the U.S. is merely behaving like the powerful nation it is, just as the great European nations once did when they ruled the world. Now, Europe must act multilaterally because it has no choice. The "UN Security Council is a substitute for the power they lack," he writes.

Kagan also emphasizes the inherent ironies present in the relationship. European nations have enjoyed an "American security guarantee" for nearly 60 years, allowing them to cut back on defense spending while criticizing the U.S. for not doing the same. Yet Europe relies upon the U.S. for protection. This has led America and Europe to view the same threats much differently, as evidenced by the split over how to deal with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Kagan points out that some European leaders are more afraid of how the U.S. will wield its power in the Middle East than they are of the thought of Hussein or other "rogue state" leaders acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Kagan’s brevity is as impressive as it is appreciated; most writers would have required thrice as many pages to get to their point. At any length, the book is nothing short of brilliant. This is essential reading for those seeking to understand the post-Cold War world. --Shawn Carkonen

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Cogent and important best describe this slim book, its lack of vast pages belying the weightiness of its message. This is an expanded version of an essay originally published as "Power and Weakness" in the June/July 2002 issue of Policy Review, written by the senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who is also a columnist for the Washington Post. The article created such a stir that a book-length expansion proved necessary for a wider readership. Tight, rigorous reasoning stands behind Kagan's cold analysis of the growing disparity between U.S and European views of the post-cold war world and how best to achieve peace and order. The lack of agreement is based primarily on opposing beliefs concerning the "proper balance between the use of force and the use of diplomacy in international affairs." Europe, as Kagan points out, is economically strong but militarily weak, while the U.S. is strong on both fronts. How to settle the world's problems is seen very differently, then, depending on whether one is negotiating from strength or from weakness. Further, the author avers that American military power has "made it possible for Europeans to believe that [military] power [is] no longer important." Controversial arguments, certainly, but this book deserves to be read by all conscientious citizens. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
?No academic piece in this realm has generated quite as much heat and interest since Samuel Huntington?s ?Clash of Civilizations? article in 1993 or Francis Fukuyama?s ?End of History? in 1989.?
?Francois Heisbourg, New York Times

?The most controversial big-think essay of the season.?
?Jay Tolson, U.S. News + World Report

?Come the hour, come the book . . . Kagan?s book is neither a diatribe nor a polemic. It is a penetrating effort to shed some light on the confusion in transatlantic affairs and to understand why Americans and Europeans are so frequently talking past each other . . . As an effort to crystallise an important moment in history and to provoke a fuller comprehension of contemporary international relations, Of Paradise and Power ranks with Frank Fukuyama?s The End of History and Sam Huntington?s The Clash of Civilizations.?
?Raymond Seitz, The Times (London)

?Cogent and important?This book deserves to be read by all conscientious citizens.?
?Booklist

?One of America?s finest commentators on issues of foreign policy. He writes elegantly, has an excellent command of history and consistently demonstrates superior intelligence and insight. He ranks . . . among analysts whose work must be read. And the appearance of this book could not have been more timely, as ?old Europe? and the United States diverge.?
?Warren I. Cohen, Los Angeles Times

?His essay [has] the foreign policy establishment humming from Washington to Tokyo?It is being called the new ?X? article (George F. Kennan, using the pseudonym ?X? in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs, conceptualized the Cold War policy of containment).?
?Lorraine Adams, The Washington Post

?Bob Kagan's provocative and thoughtful essay is required reading for everyone concerned about the future of trans-Atlantic relations. Ever controversial, Kagan's critical contribution to understanding American and European views of world order will be discussed and debated for years to come. Although not everyone will agree with Kagan's analysis, readers will benefit from its clarity, insight, and historical force.?
?Senator John McCain

?For its brilliant juxtaposition of strategy and philosophy, of the realities of power and the ethics of power, of the American ideal of justice and the European ideal of peace, Robert Kagan?s small book is a big book. Nothing like this has been written since the death of Raymond Aron.?
?Leon Wieseltier

?Though in the past we have often disagreed, I consider this essay one of those seminal treatises without which any discussion of European-American relations would be incomplete and which will shape that discussion for years to come.?
?Dr. Henry Kissinger

?No academic piece in this realm has generated quite as much heat and interest since Samuel Huntington?s ?Clash of Civilizations? article in 1993 or Francis Fukuyama?s ?End of History? in 1989.?
?François Heisbourg, New York Times

?Brilliant.?
?Francis Fukuyama

?This refreshing essay results from careful thought combined with critical information. Read it and you will think more deeply about this important arena.?
?George P. Schultz
Distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
U.S. Secretary of State from 1982-1989.

?Anyone looking for an intellectual primer to explain the geopolitical forces at work in the Iraqi conflict should order a copy of Robert Kagan?s book, Of Paradise and Power.?
?Dominic Lawson, Sunday Telegraph


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Customer Reviews

Does the transatantic countries have monopoly of global power in the 21st century?
Robert Kagan's book 'Of Paradise and power' is a mere narrative of historical relations between the United States and Europe. Ironically, Dr. Kagan is behind time since the book has little relvance for the post cold war world order. With the collapse of the bipolar world order, European nations had to interact not with a weak United States but a colossus in more than one sense. European countries are keeping a low profile not because of the hang-over emanating out of the cold war days and of four decades of Atlanticism as Dr. Kagan would have us believe. One must appreciate that leaders and policy makers of the history-conscious erstwhile great powers viz., Britain, France, Germany, and Russia have no reason to remain in hibernation and inactivity because of the peace dividend enjoyed by these nations under the American umbrella during the cold war days but because of the fact that a a unipolar superpower like the United States would be difficult to rein in. History of the United States tells that even in their haeydays, European powers failed to keep the United States within the confines of the two oceans. Dr. Kagan simply magnifies the fact that because America took Europe's help in containing and defeating the erstwhile Soviet Union, the former will be treated as equal by the United States in matters of global leadership. Europe will reveal its true colors once the lone super power gets weaker. In a word, European nations are matured enough and know when to lie low and when to assert. The book may have some superficial appeal for the general readers but lacks real depth when it comes to analyzing the transatlantic and international relations.

Gautam Maitra
Author of 'Tracing the Eagle's Orbit: Illuminating Insights into Major US Foreign Policies since Independence.'

The US Is The Rejected Suitor
Neo-cons elites on principle have no problem working with Europe. The neo-cons aren't being standoffish because of Europeans values. The problem is Europe has rejected US neo-cons elites and wisely so. Europe won't come to the party the neo-cons are throwing. The US is the rejected suitor but neo-con elites claim the break up was at the instigation of the neo-cons to save face. Until the US can reign in the neo-cons Europe best keep the US at arms distance. The neo-cons are now looking toward India and Japan two coutnries that the neo-cons are hoping fail to grasp the what the neo-cons are all about. Again there is no principled stand for the values of India or Japan or the hardworking people of India or Japan by the neo-cons, a new league of democracies with India and Japan as centerpieces is a neo-con sham, but the neo-cons are betting that that the Indians and Japanese aren't as sophisticated about the neo-cons as the Europeans. This book is nonsense.

Great Keagan
As usual, great perception and excellent writing. There is much in this book to guide future political decisions such as recognition that the world is no longer monopolar. We've blown that, and now it is tripolar with another trio waiting in the wings.