Table Of ContentAnti-Americanism in Europe
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Russell A. Berman,
Anti-Americanism in Europe:
A Cultural Problem
Anti-Americanism
in Europe
A Cultural Problem
Russell A. Berman
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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
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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
