Dec 10, 2016 - Rachel Epstein, for instance, focuses on the impact of globalisation on the ... Dr Christopher Reeves is a lecturer at the Centre for European ...
Millennium Matthew Evangelista and Vittorio Emanuele Parsi (eds.), Partners or Rivals? European-American Relations After Iraq? (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 2005, 350 pp., $35.00 pbk.). The divisions created by the Iraq War have focused attention on the current state of transatlantic relations. Partners or Rivals? is a timely collection of essays that analyse various aspects of the relationship between Europe and America since the Iraq War. The essays in this book adopt a mixed methodology, with some taking an explicitly theoretical approach, and others being more empirically grounded. There is also a collection of short commentaries that focus on some of the chapters and offer some useful observations and criticisms. The most interesting essays are contained in the first half of the book. The first three essays debate the current state of transatlantic relations. Vittorio Parsi persuasively argues that, despite the ruptures caused by Iraq, America and Europe will continue to work closely together. Shared values – at least in comparison to the rest of the world – and a commitment to liberal democracy will ensure that an irreparable breach will not occur. Ted Hopf, on the other hand, adopts a constructivist standpoint, and argues that the European and American identities have diverged. Differences in identity, the fact that the threat of Islamic terrorism is greater for America than for Europe, and America’s recent proclivity for unilateralism have undermined the ‘authoritiative’ transatlantic alliance. Matthias Dembinski’s essay makes an excellent contribution to this debate, pointing out that traditional IR theories seem unable to explain completely the behaviour of America or its European partners during and after the Iraq War. He argues that shared interests rather than shared identities will allow America and Europe to continue to work together, and suggests that inter-democratic liberal institutions will help to mediate conflicts between the US and Europe. There are two chapters on the special relationship between Britain and America. Maria Fanis’ short essay situates New Labour’s foreign policy in the context of Britain’s traditional approach towards international affairs, arguing that these ‘traditional’ attitudes largely shaped the British government’s policy towards Iraq. Jane Sharp offers a longer and more detailed, but largely descriptive, account of Britain’s approach to the Iraq War, and suggests that Blair’s cast-iron commitment to the ‘special relationship’ actually undermined British interests. Alexandra Gheciu has written an excellent chapter on the divisions that emerged between ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Europe during the Iraq War. She persuasively argues that history, and Central and Eastern Europe’s perception of the United States’ role in the international system, largely explains these countries’ support for the Iraq War, although she believes that the distinction between ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Europe is problematic. Oddly, though, the chapter has little to say about Poland. Given that it is the biggest country in the region, and one which in recent years has enjoyed a special relationship with Germany, this omission is surprising. Some of the other essays contained in the book have a narrower focus and have less to say about the general state of transatlantic relations. Rachel Epstein, for instance, focuses on the impact of globalisation on the 156 Downloaded from mil.sagepub.com by guest on December 10, 2016
Book Reviews European defence industry. She argues that transatlantic cooperation will continue almost by default, simply because Europe lacks the capacity to develop weaponry of the same technological sophistication as the US. Also, other countries in the world are likely to close the gap in relation to Europe when it comes to their own arms industries. However, European defence industries, though important, are unlikely to be a determining factor in transatlantic relations. As one of Epstein’s critics points out in the volume, she fails to explain at a theoretical level how dependence or interdependence with the US defence industry will prolong the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s existence. There is also a chapter on Russian missile defence, which concludes – unsurprisingly – that it is unlikely that Europe or America would want to co-operate with Russia in this area. Furthermore, Alexander Sergunin gives an account of the main debates within the discipline of International Relations inside Russia. However, a more general chapter on the state of the relationship between the US and Russia after the Iraq War would have been a more useful and interesting contribution to the volume. In the last three chapters the book seems to lose its focus somewhat. Fabio Armao presents a theoretically interesting chapter on the privatisation of war, but it seems to have little to say directly about transatlantic relations. Similarly, the essays on the international peace movement and a rather technical chapter on the Euro seem to fall outside the parameters of the book. An additional drawback is that the volume does not contain an index. Overall, the volume contains some well-researched and theoretically sophisticated chapters on the state of the transatlantic relationship after the Iraq War. Students and researchers of this aspect of international relations are likely to find this a useful and interesting volume. CHRISTOPHER REEVES Dr Christopher Reeves is a lecturer at the Centre for European Studies, the Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Erik Ringmar, The Mechanics of Modernity in Europe and East Asia: Institutional Origins of Social Change and Stagnation (London: Routledge, 2005, 256 pp., £75.00 hbk.). Like Western social scientists before him, Ringmar seeks to explain ‘why Europe was first’. He argues that degrees of modernisation depend on the extent to which reflection, entrepreneurship and pluralism are institutionalised. The strength of social institutions performing these functions in Europe and their weakness in Japan and China explain ‘the different paths the societies took’. (p. 207) From the late twentieth century East Asia caught up, and ‘after a hiatus of about 200 years, the two are now once again back on parallel tracks’. (p.11) 157 Downloaded from mil.sagepub.com by guest on December 10, 2016
