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S o f TEuropeo w E r r I S I n g P Romantic Practical Europe

in the Service of
MITCHELL P. SMITH

can claim romantic as well as practical origins. In fact, the European Union (EU) is unique in its blending of (1) romantic aspirations for transcendence of the ills of the nation-state in the aftermath of two world wars and (2) practical objectives of enhancing the political stability and economic prosperity of its members.
ew successFul international organizations
The preamble to the Treaty of Rome that created the European Economic Community in 1957 embodies both elements of the European integration project. The romantic dimension finds expression in the call for ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, and reference to the pooling of resources to preserve and strengthen peace and liberty. Elsewhere in the preamble, the quest for removal of obstacles to steady expansion, balanced trade, and fair competition and the progressive abolition of restrictions on international trade gives voice to practical Europe. A half-century later, have practical considerations overwhelmed the romantic, or has the romantic longing for unity proven an obstacle to practical achievement? Arguably, as the European Union seeks a renewed sense of purpose and direction after conjuring a single currency and expanding to twenty-five member states, concrete objectives are attainable only as long as the romantic notion of constructing a better world finds resonance on the European continent and beyond. The contemporary juxtaposition of a United States that appears to have shed the romance and idealism of its founding and the apogee of Europes romantic dimension have prompted widespread interest in the EU as a meaningful global entity. Several recent accounts emerging from this tension portray the European Union as an antiAmerica: an increasingly unified world of low inequality, concern for the cohesiveness of society, respect for the environment, and commitment to a peaceful world order and resolution of conflicts through engagement and diplomacy. This romantic Europe is a magnetic pole of attraction, both to aspiring member states (the region of aspirants stretches increasingly further eastward, initially into the central European states of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, and now to Ukraine and Georgia as well as northward to the Baltics and southward to the Balkans) and to poorer countries outside the European continent that seek a reliable provider of development assistance and access to important markets. More cynical observershard-headed realists in the language of international-relations theory, such as Robert Kagan, who in his much-debated 2002 Policy Review article contrasted Europes weakness with Americas strength suggest that this postconflict semi-utopia is possible only with the military security provided by the United States. For these analysts, Europe must be judged by its practical self, and, from this perspective, it is a troubled entity. The large European Union economiesespecially Germany and Italy, but France as wellcharacterized by sluggish growth, population aging, and persistent mass unemployment, appear to be spent forces relative to the dynamism of the United States. The European Union has proven ineffectual in responding to recent episodes of conflict and instability on the European continent. Such a Europe offers little as a model for emerging capitalist democracies and remains inconsequential as a global actor. The coexistence of triumph and failure in the European Union during the past two years has added to the ambiguity of Europes trajectory and to the apparent tension between the romantic and the practical. At midnight on April 1, 2004, fireworks lit the skies across central and eastern European capitals as countries from the former Soviet bloc (along with Malta and Greek Cyprus) celebrated their official accession to the European Union. With the expansion to twenty-five members, the European Union became a single market in goods, services, and capital for 455 million citizens, consumers, and businesspeople. Referendums on joining the EU were endorsed with enthusiasm by central and eastern European publics. As the worlds

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Culture & Politics

largest market for goods and services, the EU appeared project of establishing a single European market by 1992. to be on the rise as a border-free region with a single curIn that endeavorbeginning in the mid-1980s, when the rency of increasing heft in the international economy. Europeans set their sights on a rising Japan as well as the The proposed EU constitutionnegotiated in 20023 United States, and so brilliantly crafted under the leaderand ultimately signed and sealed in December 2004 ship of European Commission president Jacques Delors, promised to codify the stunning achievements of the EU a former French finance ministerthe goals and means and create a foundation for effective decision making in to the single market were firmly established, as were the a body of twenty-five members and more. Once in effect costs of not acting. A decade later, the Lisbon objectives in 2006, the constitution would create the framework for were nebulous and the means to attain them unclear and more powerful global projection of the EUs voice. The contested. In fact, between 2000 and 2006, the EU has by organization sought to accomplish this by codifying the most measures lost ground relative to the United States. aspirations of the European Union and especially by More than midway through the decade, the Europeans increasing the continuity of the leadership of EU institufind themselves farther from their goal than when they tions and creating a single ministry for European Union began their quest for economic supremacy. foreign affairs. Nevertheless, there is a looming gap in global leaderAs the first ten EU member states ratified the constiship that the EU, at least in part, may be positioned to fill. tutional treaty, the EU appeared in spring 2005 to be well A United States mired in Iraq faces intense international on the way to fulfilling its potential as a global power. unpopularity, if not outright hostility. This unpopularity Then, the fragility of the entire apparatus was ostensibly is not limited to French impatience with American hyperrevealed by the French electorates rejection of the constipuissance but in fact emanates from numerous corners, tution and an even more resounding no from a Dutch ranging from those antagonized by pronounced American citizenry historically supportive of the integration project. unilateralism and antiglobalization activists around the More profound than the no votes world to actors in developing counthemselves was the sense of uncertries opposed to U.S. overconsumptainty that emerged across Europe. tion of global resources. The ability of Directionlessness prevailed. In Italy, the agenda for there is a looming gap in the United States to setextent to which a government minister (granted, from global affairs, and the a right-wing populist party) called for global leadership that the people across the globe look to the abandonment of the European currenUnited States for leadership in solving eu, at least in part, may international problems, appears to be cy, the euro, and the return of the historically flimsy Italian lira. Confidence waning in the opening years of the be positioned to fill. in the euro slipped, and EU political twenty-first century. leaders expressed uncertainty about Critics of U.S. foreign policy warn how to proceed. Crisis became a that policymakers have lost sight of mantra. the crucial significance of soft power. As articulated by In fact, Europes current malaise preceded the French international-relations scholar Joseph Nye, soft power is and Dutch referendum results. Given the size of the single the ability to get others to follow by virtue of attraction European market and the large share of the EU in global rather than coercion. Soft power enables the possessor trade, the EU has established parity with the United to achieve desired outcomes at minimal cost by avoidStates in its ability to set the terms of global economic ing the use of military force and sharing the burden of exchange. Speaking with one voice in the World Trade enforcement with allies. Whereas hard power remains Organization, the EU is a pivotal actor in the setting of the relatively concentrated (with annual U.S. military expenglobal trade agenda and establishment of rules governditures exceeding those for all EU member states coming international finance and trade in goods and services. bined), there has been a geographical diffusion of other Building on this accomplishment and the introduction of forms of power. This is especially true of economic the euro in 1999, leaders of EU member states meeting power, which is increasingly shared not only by the EU at a summit in Lisbon in 2000 articulated the lofty goal and the United States but also by China and such risof becoming the worlds most dynamic, knowledgeing regional economic powers as Brazil, South Africa, based economy by the end of the decade. Surpassing and India. In this environment, the EU, as a leader in the dynamism of the U.S. economy was the aim. Progress global humanitarian aid and development assistance, toward this objective has proven elusive, however. Efforts appears ascendant in the global hierarchy by virtue of its to develop new mechanisms for job creation and intensisoft power. If the romantic longing to knit nations and fied investment have yielded few results. The course of peoples together in peace and prosperity represents a the Lisbon project bears little resemblance to the earlier European vision, soft power is a means to its realization.

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Romantic Europe, it seems, is bearing fruit in the form and publication of materials in the Kurdish language, of increased attraction as a locus of global problem solvand broadened rights of political parties, trade unions, ing and a system of values and institutions worthy of and other intermediary associations. The EU has been a emulation. catalyst for revival of the Turkish governments privatizaThe most compelling evidence of EU soft-power tion program in the face of a reluctant state bureaucracy, ascendance is the transformation undertaken by numerentailing the withdrawal of government ownership from ous governments in response to the lure of EU membera wide range of state economic enterprises in industries ship. The foremost examples are in eastern and central from telecommunications to cigarettes, steel, and cement Europe, where dramatic transitions toward democracy and from seaports to thermal-power plants. The EU and market economies occurred in the space of a decade. continues to press Ankara for additional reforms in the The behavior of other governments, including Turkey areas of womens rights and the rights of non-Muslim and Ukraine, with a combined population of more than minorities. 100 million, also has been altered by the attraction of Consonant with its rising soft power, the EU has eventual EU membership. Furthermore, the new member captured a certain moral authority yielded by the United states have extended outward the geographical embrace States. The conflict in Chechnya illustrates this point. of the European integration project. The Slovenian govAlthough the Russian government was by many accounts ernment has become a leading advocate for Croatian responsible for widespread human-rights abuses in its membership in the EU. Poland champions the Ukrainian war in Chechnya, U.S. criticism of Russia was muted in cause. The European Union has been a touchstone for the face of the Russian governments claim to be fighting Ukraine in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution, helpthe global war on terror alongside the United States. The ing define the path toward more efficient and less corrupt EU, in contrast, submitted draft resolutions condemnadministration, reforming relations ing Russian human-rights abuses between state and society, and purin Chechnya to the UN Human suing Ukrainian membership in Rights Commission in 2002, 2003, Consonant with its rising soft and 2004. The European Parliathe World Trade Organization. Indeed, in his February 2005 power, the eu has captured a ment was vocal in its criticism of speech before the European Parliathe Russian human-rights violament, Ukrainian president Viktor certain moral authority yielded tions. The credibility of EU instiYuschenko announced that the tutions was elevated by virtue of by the new president and government of their central role as advocates for Ukraine have clearly defined the the rights of Russian minorities in united States. ingredients and forms for future the Baltic states prior to their accesdecisions. These are the norms and sion to the EU in 2004. Moreover, standards of the European Union, the European Union is now taking its legislation, legal, political, economic, and social cula leading role in the reconstruction of Chechnya following ture. European integration is the most effective and, in a decade of war. This includes such citizen initiatives as fact, the only programme of reforms for contemporary the French-based student group tudes sans Frontires, Ukraine. modeled after the Paris-based Mdecins sans Frontires, Although its ultimate place in Europe remains highly which has brought a small group of students from the contested, the Turkish government, under pressure from University of Grozny to study in the French university the EU institutions in which it seeks full participation, has system. during the past five years adopted an impressive array of In the realm of humanitarian aid, the EU and its reforms. Most significant of these is a serious effort to curmember states are by far the global leaders. Assailed for tail the powers of the Turkish military. The National Secuits inability to wield hard power in Bosnia and Kosovo, rity Council, formerly a vehicle for the militarys exercise the EU led the humanitarian relief effort. In recent months of power over the executive, has been transformed into the EU has devoted substantial resources to famine relief an advisory body with a civilian majority. Parliament in Ethiopia and Eritrea, drought relief in Afghanistan, has been granted greater powers of oversight over the natural-disaster preparation in the central Asian republics, defense budget. The government even has pursued corfood aid in Niger and Mali, and promotion of regional ruption charges against senior officers, a departure from economic integration in the Common Market for Eastern the untouchable status of the officer corps in the recent and Southern Africa. U.S. development and humanitarian past. In a set of constitutional reforms passed in 2001, aid has fallen steadily as a share of gross domestic prodTurkey abolished the death penalty except in times of war uct for more than four decades (to less than one-tenth of and for terrorist crimes, eased conditions for the broadcast 1 percent, far lower than the poorest of the older fifteen

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EU member states, Greece and Portugal); levels in EU member states remain closer to those sustained by the United States at the peak of its soft power in the 1960s. The European Union seeks to reach an aid level of 0.56 percent of GDP by 2010. EU member states lead the effort on behalf of global poverty alleviation. Many development economists insist that aid does not foster autonomous economic growth; nevertheless, as the U.S. military learned in Indonesia in the wake of the 2004 tsunami, deployment of national resources for benign aims generates enhanced esteem around the globe. Consistent with its predilection for the exercise of soft power, a Europe that rivals the United States economically wishes to equal the United States as a diplomatic power, even while leaving U.S. military supremacy uncontested. Iran offers a first test of whether this will be possible. The European Union, with the British, French, and German governments acting in the name of the entire organization, has led the way in nuclear diplomacy in Iran. Iran has resisted EU inducements, moving forward with its nuclear program, and the outcome remains undetermined. However, it is clear that, for the Iranian government, the EU is the only possible interlocutor. The United States hulks in the background, casting a shadow over negotiations with periodic threats to use force if necessary; with the United States mired in Iraq, such threats bear little credibility. So how do we assess the rising soft power of the European Union in comparison, say, with the supreme military power of the United States? Above all, it must be kept in mind that in terms of trade, flows of capital, and international rule-making, the United StatesEU relationship is the most densely interdependent on the globe. The United States and EU, in other words, are in fact more partners than rivals. An economically weak European Union is not in the interest of the United States, nor is it helpful for the global economy. The same may be said for a diplomatically weak EU. Pressing global problems cannot be resolved without international leadership, and mounting evidence indicates the United States can no longer lead alone. How should we conceptualize soft power? Does it have a long half-life? Is it as easily created as destroyed? Experience suggests that, because soft power is largely a product of how others perceive the motives of a nations policies, a concept closely related to trust, soft power tends to reproduce itself. Soft power begets soft power, just as mistrust begets misperception and further mistrust. In contrast, the U.S. experience in Iraq suggests that hard power, when used without a patina of soft power, can degrade if it does not swiftly produce the desired result. Prophets of international politics have incorrectly predicted the demise of military power as a source of international influence in the past. But soft power has long been a necessary complement to hard power, a dimension of power that enhances and renders more durable hardpower resources. Are we perhaps witnessing a growing disjuncture in the distribution of hard- and soft-power resources? Ultimately, the EUs soft-power ascendance does not mean the EU will achieve all its economic and diplomatic objectives in the coming decade. Scholars generally agree that in order to enhance its global role, the EU will need to balance its stock of soft power with a modicum of hard powersomething it has attempted to do through creation of a 60,000-strong European Rapid Reaction Force designed to address tasks of peacekeeping and emergency intervention on the European continent and beyond. The EU also must transcend its current malaise wrought of uncertainty and internal conflict and develop a renewed sense of purpose. Sustaining soft power demands resources; reviving economic growth is not a simple matter for countries with adverse ratios of active to retired persons and heavy public-pension burdens. Plans to increase global development aid will meet popular resistance without an improvement in domestic economic conditions. In the wake of the negative referendum outcomes in France and the Netherlands, European publics seem reluctant to countenance membership enlargement beyond Bulgaria and Romania, both slated for membership next year. If Turkey is rebuffed in the wake of heroic efforts to secure democracy, the EU pole may lose some of its magnetic pull. In other words, practical achievements in European integration and the romantic longing for unity are interdependent. In the absence of sufficient material resources, the yearning for deeper union will falter; without a vibrant romantic Europe, the EU will struggle to transcend its internal languor. Similarly, only the vitality of romantic Europe can ensure the continued accumulation of soft power by the European Union and kindle the promise of a more influential EU in the world. A European Union with burgeoning soft-power resources would hardly emerge as a global hegemon. However, such an EU may well be an essential purveyor of global stability as the wedge between concentrated hard-power and diffuse soft-power resources deepens. wlt
University of Oklahoma Editorial note: For more on this topic, see Nathan Gardels, The Rise and Fall of Americas Soft Power, New Perspectives Quarterly 22:1 (Winter 2005), www.digitalnpq.org. Mitchell P. sMith is Associate Professor of Political Science and International & Area Studies and Co-Director of the European Union Center at the University of Oklahoma. His latest book, States of Liberalization: Redefining the Public Sector in Integrated Europe, was released by State University of New York Press in September 2005.

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