The Resurgence of the West
How a Transatlantic Union Can Prevent War and Restore the United States and Europe
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
After two centuries of ascent, the United States finds itself in economic decline. Some advise America to cure its woes alone. But the road to isolation leads inevitably to the end of U.S. leadership in the international system, warns Richard Rosecrance in this bold and novel book. Instead, Rosecrance calls for the United States to join forces with the European Union and create a transatlantic economic union. Such a U.S.-Europe community would unblock arteries of trade and investment, rejuvenate the West, and enable Western countries to deal with East Asian challenges from a position of unity and economic strength.
Exploring the possibilities for such a merger, the author writes, “The European Union offers a means of creating larger units without recourse to force. A connection between Europe and North America could eventually grow into an agglomeration of states, drawing China and the East into a new network of countries. In this way East will eventually join the West.” Through this great merger the author offers a positive vision of the future in which members of a tightly knit Western alliance regain economic health and attract Eastern nations to join a new and worldwide international order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two speculations one sensible, the other potentially irresponsible drive the rhetoric of Harvard professor Rosecrance's book. The first is that if the U.S. forms " political link with Europe...the magnetic bonds of economic advantage would draw the great powers of the world...together." The second is that if the U.S. and Europe do not unite, the "risk of war" between developing Asian nations, specifically China, and the United States increases. Rosecrance foresees a "hegemonic transition" between the United States and China, arguing that these transitions historically act as the impetus to war, citing 10 examples from 1500 CE to the present. While the first speculation is expertly rendered, drawing upon the two continents' shared economic, industrial, and innovative history, and how a union would make it "much more likely that China would ultimately join the West," the second speculation is thinly presented with historical precedents stripped of their context. It is too simply stated to be of much use to an historian, although readers interested in current global and political economies will benefit from Rosecrance's clear prose and the breadth with which he helps the lay reader along.
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