McCormick, John, 2007. The European Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN-10: 1403998469 ISBN-13: 978-1403998460) Price: £17.99 (pbk). 256 pp.
Reviewed by Alex Fedorov (University of Derby)
John McCormick comments that: 'Today's conventional wisdom holds that the United States is the world's last remaining superpower' (p. 1). Yet, irrefutable as this statement may seem to most people at first sight, McCormick sees things differently and has the courage to argue against this perception of post-Cold War global politics. The author clearly understood the necessity to provide an alternative idea of what has already emerged as competitor to the United States of America, by presenting his reader with a set of arguments that support the fact the European Union has, indeed, become a rival superpower.
The book opens with an easy to read and eloquent introduction that quickly familiarizes us with the key stages of this argument, by walking the reader through the decline of the American role as a global player through a portrayal of the US system. The United States is presented as a player that remains under the heavy influence of conservatism and the bi-polar world political structures, which make it look unattractive internationally and less able to compete with the challenges of globalization.
The first chapter (of which there are seven) looks at the changing nature of power which lies at the heart of McCormick's justification for the EU as the new superpower. He argues that the military capacity of power has lost its political efficiency, and the future lies with a new, 'civilian power', represented by Europe and not by the hard-line, unilateral options of the United States. 'We must question the historical link between political influence and military power' (p. 10). The efficiency of such an argument, however, is undermined by the fact that no matter how deeply one questions this link the realist approach to power remains as a potentially more attractive and cheaper - though short term - solution to most of security dilemmas the world faces today.
The second chapter monitors the progress of the rise of Europe after the end of the Second World War and looks at Europe's relationship with America alongside examples of Cold War alliance systems (such as NATO), agreements, treaties and international organizations. The role of US power is described as primary containment to the European rise, and McCormick comments that: 'Throughout the Cold War, the power potential of Europe had been subverted by a combination of its own weaknesses and divisions, and by relative American strength in the face of the Soviet threat' (p. 52). The author acknowledges that Europeans relied heavily on American support both militarily and economically and therefore could only make themselves visible after the fall of the Soviet bloc.
The third chapter is dedicated to the ideals of European 'civilian power' and its advantages over the American power model. Softer 'non-military tools in European foreign policy' and the use of the 'military as peacekeeper, rather than peacemaker' (p. 71) attract attention as just and humane ways of power projection, despite being expensive, lengthy and having limited rates of success. After all, both civilian and military power is used to achieve the same goals.
The fourth chapter presents an overall economic image, assessing EU achievements over the last fifty years. Growing US-European rivalry in the economic sphere is portrayed very accurately through the list of arguments and WTO examples. The dominance of the Euro single currency is the only issue that could raise questions over its current position being linked to the American difficulties in Iraq.
Chapters five and six focus on Europe's position within the international relations system as well as differences (and similarities) between European and American values. The author underlines the fact that national interests are still a major stopping point in reaching consensus on common foreign and security policy, which does not prevent the EU from defining its unified interests more clearly - an ability that rose out of the exceptionalism of American foreign policy. The same exceptionalism transfers into the argument over the attractiveness of values and cultural ideals. As McCormick comments: 'On the cultural front, at least, the United States is still the global hegemon' (p. 138). Nevertheless, it could be said that the American way of life represented by a simple consumer culture is unlikely to survive in a competition with traditional European values that took centuries to form.
The seventh and final chapter in the book tackles 'Europeism' as a political and cultural phenomenon, whilst attempting to prove the existence of a common European identity. McCormick talks of the 'values of peace, multilateralism, internationalism, soft power and the civilian means of dealing with conflict'(p. 167) as a possible means of European representation. Valuable comments envisage the possible future of Atlanticism or the Atlantic Alliance, which the author deems to be troubled, owing to the stable cooperation that is unlikely without changes in attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic. In the words of the author: 'Europe is a superpower... it is time to acknowledge this, and to better understand its implications' (p. 174).
Despite the amount of high-quality material used in this book the overall effect suffers from several noticeable deficiencies. Most of them originate from a highly visible one-sided tone that surfaces as the author attempts to prove his superpower theory. A careful reader could find himself asking the following simple questions: is 'the biggest capitalist marketplace' the only main argument for the EU superpower role that the author could provide (since it appears on average three to four times in each chapter)? Is 'pan-Europeism' the ultimate goal of the European Union? Do governments or people make states? Is it not too early to call Kosovo a state (p.129)? Does the European Union wish to gain the larger share of leadership in the Global Community (or does it feel left out)? Should the statement that the 'European Union is a superpower' have been left to the reader's own decision? References appear to be missing in some places, for instance the 'Serbian education minister... was forced to resign - when she announced that evolution should no longer be taught in schools' (p. 152, reference?) or 'Increasingly, the term superpower appears in discussions about Europe... in conjunction with its political influence in the world' (p. 173, reference?).
Having considered all of the evidence that John McCormick provides his reader with, one could say that this book presents a new approach to the European Union as a whole and that is prepared to argue with waves of Euroscepticism that so frequently surface amongst the academics and on the international arena. The book should be read in conjunction with recent contributions by Robert Cooper and Bob Kagan and could be of great use to a raft of students and scholars in various disciplines and interdisciplinary fields such as European Studies, International Relations, Politics and Contemporary history.