Americans and Europeans Dancing in the Dark: On Our Differences and Affinities, Our Interests, and Our Habits of Life (Hoover Institution Press Publication)

302 Pages·2007·2.16 MB·English

by  Dennis L. Bark

A E
MERICANS AND UROPEANS
D D
ANCING IN THE ARK

A
M E R I C A N S
AND
E
U R O P E A N S
DANCING DARK
IN THE
On Our
Differences and Affinities,
Our Interests, and
Our Habits of Life
DENNIS L. BARK
HOOVER INSTITUTION PRESS
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA

FOR
France Marie Catherine Pauline
&
Dwight, Matthew, Samuel
Whichever way they cross
the Atlantic
they are going home
PAGEv
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oftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—
PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48–1992.(cid:3)(cid:2)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bark,DennisL.
AmericansandEuropeansdancinginthedark:onourdifferencesandaffinities,
ourinterests,andourhabitsoflife/DennisL.Bark.
p. cm.—(HooverInstitutionPresspublication;no.554)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-8179-4801-6(cloth:alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-8179-4802-3(alk.paper)
1.Nationalcharacteristics,European. 2.Nationalcharacteristics,American.
3.Europe—Relations—UnitedStates. 4.UnitedStates—Relations—Europe.
I.Title.
D1055.B266 2007
303.48(cid:3)24073—dc22 2007003568
Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xv
AbouttheAuthor xix
Introduction 1
PART ONE
Continental Contrasts
Preface 9
ChapterI:Differences 11
TheEssentialDifference 11
FromtheTopDown 12
Aristocrats,OldandNew 14
FromtheBottomUp 27
TheEssentialDifference,Again 32
ChapterII:OnHistory,Heritage,andHabitsofLife 45
Geography,Distance,andSpace 45
ArtandMusic,Language,Manners,andHabitsofLife 58
ViewsfromtheBackyard 79
PART TWO
Qualities of Life
Preface 91
viii Contents
Chapter III:Equality,Opportunity,Stability 93
TheEuropeanSocio-EconomicModel,The AmericanModel 93
SocialisminEuropeandAmerica 98
Thepost-1945Politicaland EconomicOrder 109
Chapter IV:Uncommon Marketplaces 123
TheConceptoftheUnion 123
WhenRealitiesAreTrump 136
GreatExpectations 149
Competition 153
PART THREE
Freedom and Order
Preface 165
Chapter V:Legacies,AncientandModern 167
TheIdeaandtheTree 167
HistoryLessons 181
Chapter VI:TheFlyintheSoup 193
ChangingRelationships 193
InterpretingSeptember11,2001 202
Chapter VII:TheForceofThings 211
AspectsofLeadership 211
NewCrossroads 219
ObligationsWrittenintheHeart 223
Appendix1:AComparativeChartofEuropeanCountries 227
Appendix2:‘‘AnAmericanis...’’ 231
Appendix3:‘‘TheInternational’’ 233
Notes 235
ASelectedBibliographyforFurtherReading 253
Index 261
PAGEviii
Foreword
Dennis Bark is an unabashed Atlanticist who believes that
what Americans and Europeans have in common is far more
importantthanwhatdividesthem,andthatasalliestheyhave
aresponsibilitytoprovide clearand strongleadershipinaworldbadlyin
needofit.
Thecollapseofcommunistregimesin1989–1990gaveAmericansand
Europeans an unprecedented chance to do so. But during the decade of
the 1990s, while this opportunity was open to them, they ignored the
logical consequence of the end of the Cold War; namely, the obligation
to set new economic, political, and diplomatic goals to replace the com-
mon front they had maintained while the Iron Curtain divided Europe.
Instead,theyremainedwithinthecomfortableconfinesoftheirrespective
backyards, from which, in the wake of the terrorist attack on the World
TradeCenter,theysafelyhurledinsultsateachother,thusdemonstrating
aspectsofleadershipthatwereunworthyoftheword.
If the twentieth century was marked by an American-European part-
nership of unprecedented mutual interests, and by an appreciation of
common values, and for some by a friendship made of trust, affection
and respect, this book’s title suggests that the once-storied relationship is
comingapart.FormanytheAtlanticDividehaswidened.Indeed,agreat
manythingshavechangedsincethefirstquarterofthetwentiethcentury
when Theodore Roosevelt invited his good friend, French ambassador
Jean-JulesJusserand—marriedtoanAmericanfromaNewEnglandfam-
ily—toattendcabinetmeetings inWashington.
Thesechanges arethe subjectofthe author’sreflections ondifferences
PAGEix
x Foreword
between Europeans and Americans. Bark focuses on our varied habits of
life about which widespread ignorance exists in both America and in Eu-
rope. His observations are neither pro-American nor anti-European, but
they are astute, and they warrant careful reading as he sets out what our
differencesare,wheretheycomefrom,andhowtheyaffectourjudgments
of each other. He points out as well that Europeans think they know a
great deal more about America than they really do, and conversely that
AmericansareblithelyunawareofhowlittletheyknowaboutEurope.
In a series of essays that describe significant differences between
AmericaandEurope,Barksendshisreadersaclearandpowerfulmessage;
namely, that we Europeans should pay greater attention to the values we
sharewithAmerica,aswedidfollowingWorldWarIIandduringthefirst
decadesofEuropeanunification,untilthefalloftheBerlinWallin1989.
Europeans should cast aside our prejudices and jealousies, and espe-
cially our absurd sense of superiority that is sometimes conducive to ha-
tred. At the same time, Americans need not inflame these tendencies by
needlessly dealing with their European counterparts in an overbearing or
dismissivemanner,suchasdrawingagratuitousdistinctionbetween‘‘Old
Europe’’ and ‘‘New Europe.’’ A more respectful and nuanced approach,
the norm when European elites conduct business among themselves, is
verymuchinorderandmuch moreeffective.
These latter considerations, far from new, as Bark is well aware, also
concerned Jean-Jules Jusserand. He knew America well, and, in fact,
served as president of the American Historical Association in 1921, and
received the first Pulitzer Prize in American History in 1923. Jusserand
wasunusuallyprescientinhisfinallettertohisAmericanfriends;aletter,
virtually unknown today, that Bark cites with effect. Written late in his
lifeandafterhisretirementfromtheFrenchdiplomaticservice,hecalled
hismessage,‘‘farewellforever:’’
The sands in the hour-glass are running low; I must take leave, probably
forever.Maypeace,prosperity,happyhomesbethemeedofyourenergy,
goodsense andkindhearts.Whenwejudgeeach otherwearenotbound
toapplaudallthattheotherdoes,noreventoavoidexpressingourblame
PAGEx