The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream

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Summary: A book that will appeal to the envy of America
Review: 200 years ago, European nations dominated the world in absolutely every aspect-culturally, economically, militarily, etc. Now, in the 21st Century, the tables have dramatically changed across the Atlantic. The U.S. is now the strongest superpower the world has ever seen. For the first time in history, there is a nation out there with the might and influence greater than Europe COMBINED. If one doesn't believe me, just look the stats up and compare them. One example would be that the US spends more on its military and on technology than the rest of the world COMBINED, let alone old Europe. And people wonder why the most high-tech nation on Earth...



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Summary: Two-Coloured Dreaming *
Review: According to Rifkin, the "American Dream" is living in the past tense. The "frontier legend" of endless land and resources, adminstratively concluded over a century ago, is socially and economically moribund. As Americans expand into former farm and pasteur lands to establish autonomous "burbclaves" [thank you, Neal Stephenson!], Europe is becoming increasingly integrated. While still fitful and incomplete, the term "European Union" is advancing beyond being merely a political structure. It is becoming a continental identity well on the way to becoming the "European Dream". Although still nascent, the idea is sinking ever deeper roots into the European psyche. In this excellent study of two cultural structures, Rifkin offers lessons to America and to the world.

Organised in three themes, Rifkin's book notes first that a new age is dawning. The tenor of that age is symbolised by Europe's shedding of old disputes and animosities. Although Rifkin avoids judging the impact of European imperialism over the centuries, he recognises that Europe's aid to developing countries far outstrips that of the United States. Whether that makes up for past intrusions remains to be seen, but the effort is under way and having a positive impact. His second section is an examination of the process of Europe's cultural and economic evolution from scattered communities to the rise of the nation-state. Religion's impact is described, particularly from the religions which fled to North America to provide a new political entity. One, Puritanism, developed essentially in isolation. In conclusion, he claims for Europe the role of a "new land of opportunity". The opportunity is a new economic drive, giving the EU nations a trade surplus, which stands in stark contrast to America's deficit. Beyond economics is the wider cultural view in Europe contrasted with the US. This "soft power" approach is gaining adherents in many world regions, offering a model for other areas to emulate. The EU flag of but two colours, gold stars on a blue field, represents new ways of thinking and doing that are worth emulating.

Rifkin is clear that Europe and America have different "psyches", their shared historical roots notwithstanding. More than simply blurring national boundaries and supporting a common currency, the respective approaches to life are growing ever more disparate. He compares economic endeavour, lifestyle approaches and socio-political aspirations. There are drastic differences, he argues in such things as rate of growth, leisure and productive time and the number of people in prisons. In short, "America is worth dying for but Europe is worth living for". Such expressions are signs of how variously Europeans and Americans view themselves. And these indications will have serious impact on future developments in both regions and beyond. The European approach to freedom and security, which is communal rather than individual, has already led to other nations seeking closer ties with Europe. They are knocking on its door seeking admission. This situation stands in stark contrast to America's method of exporting these ideological commodities by intrusion.

Rifkin is the first to acknowledge the European Dream is in anything more than an emergent condition. He recognises the issue of cheap immigrant labour has generated stresses, both social and economic. "Security" can only be maintained with an effective response force, something which is already in process. Bosnia was a disaster, not to be repeated. Rifkin argues that it was a lesson learned. Each step, even if halting, Rifkin feels to be in a forward direction. Europe, he argues, isn't striving to be a superpower, just a workable and effective one. If its dream continues to built along the forms laid down over the past generation, it is likely to be fulfilled. Read this book to find out how and why. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

* Australian Aborigines trace their origins to "Dreamings". Surely, Rifkin is describing an origin here.

Rating:
Summary: Good information - but read it critically
Review: Anyone who has been watching the news for the past year knows that Americans and Europeans have different opinions on foreign policy. This book attempts to explain why. I did not finish the European Dream with a burning desire to move to Europe; but I did finish it with a better understanding of the differing worldviews of Europeans and Americans.

Rifkin notes that Americans are more individualistic than Europeans. We prefer self-reliance over collective projects and group decision-making. The Europeans, perhaps because of their recent history and close proximity to each other, place their faith in communal efforts. The Europeans also have a different attitude toward property rights. According to Rifkin, the Europeans care more about access to something rather than ownership rights to it. And on the Continent, it's all about togetherness. To a European, security is about being "embedded" in one's community, not about having the wealth and power to be free from the meddling of others.

Europe is a far more secular place than the United States. I had a general sense of this before reading the book, but the statistics that Rifkin cites in this area are illuminating. Whether a person is religious or not, everyone can agree that a belief in God (or lack thereof) is bound to affect one's attitudes on more temporal matters.

Overall, Rifkin is a fan of the European way of doing things. (This is, perhaps, obvious from the title.) However, the information is presented in a way that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.

For example, Rifkin claims that Europeans are motivated by communal interests and globalist aspirations, versus the narrower, more profit-centered self-interest that drives most Americans. But Rifkin also points out that Europeans are less interested in their careers than Americans, preferring to spend more time on what Rifkin calls "deep play." This might mean that the Europeans are simply more laid back than Americans, but it might also indicate that the highly taxed, quasi-socialist economies of Europe foster offer fewer incentives for individual achievement. If your country's economic system is focused on redistribution of wealth rather than rewarding individual efforts, then why bother?

Rifkin also acknowledges that Europeans are so often able to play the good cop in international conflicts because the United States will always be there to play the bad cop. He unsparingly details the abysmal performance of the European military forces in recent conflicts such as Kosovo.

The European Dream should be read with a critical eye, but it is a good source of information for anyone who has been puzzled by the recent transatlantic squabbles.


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Summary: Rifkin's Pipe Dream Revealed
Review: As recently as 15 years ago top U.S. academics like MIT economist Lester Thurow were seriously wondering if the Soviet Union wasn't going to surpass the U.S. because of their much more sensible and "fair" social policies.

The Soviet Union fell apart in 1989 and it was revealed just how weak its economy had really been and how much time people there wasted just trying to get adequate food.

Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union pundits, political leaders and scholars warned Americans that Japan was about to take the leadership role in the world economy. Japan's vaunted government-industrial-planning revolution crashed in 1990 and its economy has been in recession ever since. Now Jeremy Rifkin tells us that the European Union and its version of welfare statism is poised to take the world by storm. If the United States wants to keep up, he says, we must emulate their more progressive social policies, which he assures us, is the secret of their success.

Is the United States perfect? Clearly not. We need to improve access to our health care system by introducing market based solutions and reducing government intervention. We need to increase our savings rate and save for retirement. We need to stop being the world's policeman and drastically cut our obscene military spending. And we need to radically reform our education system to bring it out of the smoke stack era and into the modern world.

With these kinds of reforms no European welfare super state can out-compete us any time in the foreseeable future.

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Summary: It's not happening
Review: Europe's economy is growing more slowly than that of America. Further more, the population is also growing more slowing and is aging more rapidly.

The United States is already seeing a social security crisis, with only about 2 workers paying for 1 person's benifits. This will only continue to work as long as more workers pay for benifits. This remains true for Europe too.

If anything, a more accurate comparison would be that of the EU to that of the NAFTA, which is really an economically intigrated North and South America, with has over 800 million people, a growing population, and much more rapidly growing economies. The economic output of NAFTA countires exceeds 13 trillion while EU has only 11. Also, that 13 trillion is growing in excess of 3% while Europe is a measily 1%.

Basically, it's not happening.

AND... I'm going to say where I got my information... and I don't think anyone ever does this, but all this can be found in The CIA World Factbook.

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Summary: European Dream by an European
Review: European Dream is a very interesting read on the conflicting lifestyles, ideologies and culture between Europe & USA. Pretty good and interesting ideas that summarizes the concept are presented in the first part of the book. Second part of the book is pretty much a general summary of the history of Europe which might be boring for people who are already familiar with it. However I believe its an essential part for the average American who is not very history savy. Book concludes with the author's resolutions on the ideaology that he structed in the first two major parts of the book.

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Summary: Europe IS Better Than America
Review: I do agree that Europe has moved beyond America, in SO many ways,as Rifkin says here. 50 years ago, Europe was on its rear, and we helped pull them up. Now they are eclipsing us.

Someone wrote an earlier review of this book here on Amazon and he/she questioned the value of this sort of Hegelian synthesis-making by Rifkin, where he is collaborating with other in the ruling elite in order to move the West to a new and more egalitarian type of state, in order to stave off the sudden transformation of the West in truly socialist states. Well, I sympathize, but the populace is nowhere nearly as educated and aware of history as they need to be to be able to pull off something like that. You and I and a few others may understand how exploitative America is. But like other true socialists/marxists/whatever (and I myself am somewhat of a marxist), you fail to take into account children and the power they have over adults. They literally change parents. They alter brain functioning in human parents, just as they do in animals. Once the parents are subected to those facial features and other features of children, their brains will change, and those changes preclude the kind of societal transformations that you and I desire.

All we can do is hope to incrementally move the Western populace towards a more secular and educated place. Gradually. The Hegelian process you reference will move us in the direction of Europe as Rifkin predicts.

Also, with respect to capitalism and the exploitation and environmental destruction that capitalism causes, people like you seem to ignore the deus ex machina that technology should provide. Malthus, and all that. Technology will likely save us.

Rating:
Summary: Economically Illiterate
Review: The Marxists posited subsequent stages of socialism and communism, and others debated how, when and why peoples moved from one stage to another. Rifkin's novel contribution is to identify the emerging European postmodernist society as the next stage. Instead of a proletarian revolution ushering in central planning, we are to have a centralized bureaucratic revolution that will plan proletarian immobilization.

Has this dude ever taken an Econ 101 class?

Seems not...

Rating:
Summary: The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin
Review: The subject matter indicated by this title belays the amplitude of the material covered. It is instructive on what is going on in the European Union, it is comparative to the American Dream and its manifestations past and present, and it is historical in that it lays out the developments that have brought us to this day.

You should read this book, and if need be, go to your local library and for a taste read The "United States" of Europe which is its Chapter 9.


Rating:
Summary: Extremely Informative; Ambiguous Arguments
Review: The two impressions I take away from "The European Dream" are that it's incredibly informative and well-researched, but critically meanders in its conclusions. These impressions represent the respective strengths and weaknesses of the book.

THE GOOD: Rifkin possesses a crystal-clear perception in analyzing data, facts and trends in comparing America and Europe. His cultural, economic and societal analyzation of both continents is dead-on and informative. He also does not push any specific belief upon the reader, but simply states different approaches, their pros/cons, and moves on. The book follows a logical progression. He presents the differences, dedicates a large portion of the book to investigating the cultural and historical factors that created two divergent world-views and returns to the present differences with a slant towards the future. All of the information is easy to follow, relevant, and well-researched. Pure presentation of the information and the clarity of Rifkin's organization would net this book 5 stars, but Rifkin attempts to take it further, and I believe he was only marginally successful.

THE BAD: The title and opening chapters present a thesis of a "European Dream"--the representative worldview and trends of European Society--anchoring in the new economic and social changes of the 21st century. Rifkin amply describes the innovative beliefs of our Western counterparts, yet never conclusively argues for the so-called "eclipse" that the title speaks of. In fact, many sections of the book are dedicated to ways in which Europe could fall behind in the coming century: dilemmas such as immigration control, security, population demographics, and bureaucratic roadblocks in the EU. What results is more of an analysis of the transatlantic relationship rather than a coherent argument for the future of the relationship. Any attempts at implying a future are typically speculative, and it becomes fairly apparent the author cannot take a better guess than anyone else. Regardless, the pure educational value of the two cultures, economies and their interactions in the past, present and somewhat into the future are invaluable to anyone interested in these topics. Despite Rifkin's convoluted arguments, I enjoyed the book.

THE UGLY: Check out Rifkin's giant mug-shot on the back of the hardcover edition. What a stud!