"A magisterial volume--a cocktail of autobiography, political
analysis of the state of the world, and policy prescriptions."
--"Foreign Affairs"
For fifty years, the Americans, British, and Europeans were close
partners, yet today the Western alliance is strained to a moment of
reckoning. In "Cousins and Strangers," Chris Patten, one of
Europe's most distinguished statesmen, scrutinizes what has
happened in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
pinpointing the shifts in power and security that have reshaped our
world.
In penetrating and sparkling analysis, Patten argues that to face
the urgent threats of the twenty-first century--terrorism, nuclear
proliferation, failed and failing states, massive environmental
change--the Western alliance must stop bickering and kowtowing and
start asserting cooperative leadership. Bad habits and easy,
self-absorbed slogans must give way to smart politics in order to
ensure the world's, and our own, best interests. Drawing on his
decades of experience in government and international diplomacy,
Patten sharply assesses the leadership of the United States, Great
Britain, and Europe, and the stakes for all three if the West
breaks apart. Chris Patten, chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle
universities, was from 1999 until 2004 European commissioner for
external relations. He was previously the member of Parliament for
Bath, chairman of the Conservative Party, and the last British
governor of Hong Kong. He is the author of "East and West": "
China, Power, and the Future of Asia." He lives in London. For
fifty years, the Americans, British, and Europeans have been close
strategic partners. After the Second World War, the United States
helped preserve freedom in half of Europe and gave the West a
remarkable half century of (for the most part) peace and
prosperity. Yet today the Western alliance is strained to a moment
of reckoning. In "Cousins and Strangers," Chris Patten scrutinizes
what has happened in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
making sense of the fundamental shifts in international power that
now shape out world, and making the case for reestablishing a
strong and effective Western alliance in the years ahead. To face
the urgent threats of the twenty-first century--terrorism, nuclear
proliferation, fissures between rich and poor nations, failed and
failing states, massive environmental change--the United States,
Great Britain, and Europe must stop the bickering and assert
cooperative leadership. Bad habits and easy, self-absorbed slogans
must give way to smart politics in order to ensure our best
interests. Patten, who served as the last British governor of Hong
Kong and the European Union's diplomatic liaison to the rest of the
world, shows how this responsibility falls on all three partners: *
America's gunslinging attitudes and "you're with us or against us"
unilateralism have alienated its friends in addition to its
enemies. The United States must shun the imperial mantle, renew its
commitment to global governance, and take on a leadership role--and
a larger share of the expenses--in environmental and economic
management. * The United Kingdom has acted more like a poodle than
a partner to its American cousins, undermining Britain's own
strategic interests at home and in Europe. Britain must reinvent
the "special relationship" as a channel for persuading America to
follow Europe's multilateral principles rather than as a cover for
American unilateralism. * Europe, particularly France, has pushed
back against a strong European Union--except as a free-trade zone
and as a forum for sniping at U.S. policy. Europe must step up as a
military and political leader just as it has on the economic front,
taking on a larger share of the responsibility for security and
policing that have previously been left to the United States.
Drawing on his decades of experiences in elected government and
international diplomacy, Patten investigates the three-way
relationship among America, Britain, and Europe, and show how all
three must adapt to cope with the economic and political challenges
of the twenty-first century. "A brilliantly catty and nicely
constructed text--so felicitous in its language and subtle in its
jabs that one wishes for a bit more."--Josef Joffe, "The New York
Times Book Review" "A brilliantly catty and nicely constructed
text--so felicitous in its language and subtle in its jabs that one
wishes for a bit more."--Josef Joffe, "The New York Times Book
Review" "Surprisingly readable and literate, even slyly funny . . .
But just below the surface of his more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone
lurks a deep and burning resentment, aimed primarily at the Bush
administration and what he sees as the swashbuckling collection of
chicken hawks, Vulcans and neoconservatives who have propelled us
and our partners into a period of mayhem and muddle that Patten
clearly believes is the most dangerous since the end of World War
II."--Glenn Frankel, "The Washington Post Book World" "Freed from
the shackles of various offices, [Chris Patten] brings his
peripatetic career and independent eye to bear on the fault lines
and figures of international politics . . . sketching, and
occasionally skewering, his subjects."--"Financial Times" "Useful
and entertaining . . . Patten is eager to find through 'Europe' an
alternative to American dominance."--"The Wall Street Journal"
"Former chair of the British Conservative Party, last British
governor of Hong Kong, former European commissioner for external
relations, and now chancellor of Oxford, Patten has put all of his
narrative virtuosity, breadth of vision, common sense, and often
hilarious verve into this magisterial volume--a cocktail of
autobiography, political analysis of the state of the world, and
policy prescriptions, peppered with priceless anecdotes and
incisive portraits. The most salient part of the book is Patten's
sharp condemnation of the recent unilateralist, militaristic turn
in U.S. foreign policy (he dislikes Vice President Dick Cheney and
calls UN Ambassador John Bolton 'the Pavarotti of neoconservatism')
and his equally sharp critique of Tony Blair's policy on Iraq
('Supporting the Bush invasion . . . is probably the worst service
we have paid America'). Patten calls on Washington to return to the
kind of policy it followed after World War II and for much greater
U.S. involvement in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in
global environmental and development issues, and in UN reform. He
is also a lucid defender of the European Union, making strong cases
for the inclusion of Turkey and for forging a union that is neither
a superpower competitor of the United States nor just an appendix
of Washington. In the end, Patten sees the economic rise of China
and India as an opportunity for the West, but he also warns of the
dangers of 'the revolt of the alienated' and 'the revolt of the
dispossessed.' It is to be hoped that Patten will have more
opportunities to apply his intelligence and his wit to
international policy."--Stanley Hoffmann, "Foreign Affairs"
" "
"Chris Patten reaches behind the cliches of the Anglo-American
relationship 'to tell it like it is.' This impo
General
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