[news] The European Dream

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The European Dream

September / October 2004
By Jeremy Rifkin, The European Dream

The new Europe has its own cultural vision -- and it may be better than ours

The set of beliefs we call the American Dream underlies one of history's
great success stories, an unbroken cultural ascent lasting more than 200
years. But how well are we doing today? In this selection from his
provocative new book, social thinker Jeremy Rifkin argues that the American
Dream has turned into a liability that has us clinging to an outmoded past.
Meanwhile, a different vision of life that's now emerg-ing from Europe could
be the world's best hope for negotiating its shared global future. -- The
Editors

What really separates America from all earlier political experiments is the
unbounded hope and enthusiasm, the optimism that is so thick at times it can
bowl you over. This is a land dedicated to possibilities, a place where
constant improvement is the only meaningful compass and economic progress is
regarded to be as certain as the rising sun. We are a people who threw off
the yoke of tyranny and vowed never to be ruled by arbitrary elites of any
kind. We eschew class distinctions and the hereditary transmission of
status, embrace the democratic spirit, and believe that everyone should be
judged solely on merit.

Americans have long been aware of our special circumstance. We think of
America as a refuge for every human being who has ever dreamed of a better
life and been willing to risk his or her own to come here and start over.

That's why it saddens me to say that America is no longer a great country.
Yes, it's still the most powerful economy in the world, with a military
presence unmatched in all of history. But to be a great country, it is
necessary to be a good country. It is true that people everywhere enjoy
American cultural forms and consumer goods. America is even envied, but it
is no longer admired as it once was. The American Dream, once so coveted,
has increasingly become an object of derision. Our way of life no longer
inspires; rather, it is now looked on as outmoded and, worse yet, as
something to fear, or abhor.

Stripped to its bare essentials, the American Dream offers everyone a fair
shot at prosperity if they're willing to work hard and cultivate
self-reliance. But fulfillment of the dream is becoming more elusive. For
Americans who have made every effort to succeed, only to be pulled down over
and over again by a market economy and a society weighted against them, the
dream can feel like a cruel hoax, a myth without substance. There may still
be opportunity for both the native-born and newcomers, but the unfettered
upward mobility that defined American life up until the early 1970s no
longer exists. As the gap between rich and poor has widened, the sons and
daughters of wealthier Americans have come to feel entitled to happiness and
are less willing to work hard and make something of themselves. On all
social levels, the dream is losing its cachet, casting many of its former
believers adrift. One-third of all Americans say they no longer even believe
in the American Dream.

While the American spirit languishes in the past, a compelling new dream is
coming of age, driven by the rise of the world's other great superpower, the
European Union (EU). Twenty-five nations, representing 455 million people,
have joined together to create a "United States" of Europe. Like the United
States of America, this vast cultural entity has its own founding documents
and hopes for the future. It also has its own empowering myth. Although it
is still in its adolescence, the European Dream is the first transnational
vision, one far better suited to the next stage in the human journey.
Europeans are beginning to adopt a new global consciousness that extends
beyond, and below, the borders of their nation-states, deeply embedding them
in an increasingly interconnected world.

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Comparing Quality of Life

Americans are so used to thinking of our country as the most successful on
earth, they might be surprised to learn that, by many measures, this is no
longer the case. In just a few decades, the European Union has grown to
become the third-largest governing institution in the world. Though its
landmass is half the size of the continental United States, its $10.5
trillion gross domestic product now eclipses the U.S. GDP, making it the
world's largest economy. The European Union is already the world's leading
exporter and largest internal trading market. Sixty-one of the 140 biggest
companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are
U.S. companies.

The comparisons between the world's two great superpowers are even more
revealing when it comes to the quality of life. For example, in the European
Union, there are approximately 322 physicians per 100,000 people, whereas in
the United States there are only 279. The United States ranks 26th among the
industrial nations in infant mortality, well below the EU average. The
average life span in the 15 most developed EU countries is now 78.01 years,
compared to 76.9 years in the United States.

Children in 12 European nations now rank higher in mathematics literacy than
their American peers, and in 8 European countries children outscore
Americans in scientific literacy. When it comes to wealth distribution -- a
crucial measure of a country's ability to deliver on the promise of
prosperity -- the United States ranks 24th among the industrial nations. All
18 of the most developed European countries have less income inequality
between rich and poor. There are now more poor people living in America than
in the 16 European nations for which data are available. America is also a
more dangerous place to live. The U.S. homicide rate is four times higher
than the European Union's. Even more disturbing, the rates of childhood
homicides, suicides, and firearm-related deaths in the United States exceed
those of the other 25 wealthiest nations, including the 14 wealthiest
European countries. Although the United States is only 4 percent of the
world's population, it now contains one-quarter of the world's entire prison
population. While the EU member states average 87 prisoners per 100,000
people, the U.S. averages an incredible 685 prisoners per 100,000 people.

Europeans often remark that Americans "live to work," while Europeans "work
to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six weeks a year.
By contrast, Americans, on average, receive only two weeks. Most Americans
would also be shocked to learn that the average commute to work in Europe is
less than 19 minutes. When one considers what makes a people great and what
constitutes a better way of life, Europe is beginning to surpass America.

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Two Dreams, One Past

Though historians seldom allude to it, the American Dream is largely a
European creation transported to American soil and frozen in time. The
American Dream was born in the early modern era -- a period that saw the
flowering of the individual, the development of a sophisticated private
property regime, the invention of market capitalism, and the creation of the
nation-state. The Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment idea of
science as the relentless pursuit and exploitation of nature's secrets had
begun to take hold in Europe. While much of Europe eventually tempered its
religious fervor, its scientific zeal, and its enthusiasm for unbridled
market capitalism, preferring a compromise in the form of democratic
socialism, America did not. Instead, successive generations chose to live
out those older traditions in their purest forms, making us the most
devoutly Protestant people on Earth and the most committed to scientific
pursuits, private property, capitalism, and the nation-state.

That difference is reflected in the American and European Dreams, which at
their core are about two diametrically opposed ideas about freedom and
security. For Americans, freedom has long been associated with autonomy. An
autonomous person is not dependent on others or vulnerable to circumstances
beyond his or her control. To be autonomous one needs to be propertied. The
more wealth one amasses, the more independent one is in the world. One is
free by becoming self-reliant and an island unto oneself. With wealth comes
exclusivity, and with exclusivity comes security.

The new European Dream is based on different assumptions about what
constitutes freedom and security. For Europeans, freedom is found not in
autonomy but in embeddedness. To be free is to have access to many
interdependent relationships. The more communities one has access to, the
more options one has for living a full and meaningful life. It is
inclusivity that brings security -- belonging, not belongings.

The American Dream emphasizes economic growth, personal wealth, and
independence. The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable
development, quality of life, and interdependence. The American Dream pays
homage to the work ethic. The European Dream is more attuned to leisure and
"deep play." The American Dream is inseparable from the country's religious
heritage and deep spiritual faith. The European Dream is secular to the
core. The American Dream depends on assimilation: We associate success with
shedding our former ethnic ties and becoming free agents in the great
American melting pot. The European Dream, by contrast, is based on
preserving one's cultural identity and living in a multicultural world. The
American Dream is wedded to love of country and patriotism. The European
Dream is more cosmopolitan and less territorial.

Americans are more willing to employ military force to protect what we
perceive to be our vital self-interests. Europeans are more reluctant to use
military force and instead favor diplomacy, economic assistance, and aid to
avert conflict and favor peacekeeping operations to maintain order.
Americans tend to think locally while Europeans' loyalties are more divided
and stretch from the local to the global. The American Dream is deeply
personal and little concerned with the rest of humanity. The European Dream
is more expansive and systemic, and therefore more bound to the welfare of
the planet.

That isn't to say that Europe has suddenly become a utopia. For all of its
talk about preserving cultural identity, Europeans have become increasingly
hostile toward newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers. Ethnic strife
and religious intolerance continue to flare up in pockets across Europe.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again, as is discrimination against Muslims and
other religious minorities. While Europe's people and countries berate
American military hegemony and what they regard as a trigger-happy foreign
policy, they are more than willing, on occasion, to let the U.S. armed
forces safeguard European security interests. Meanwhile, both supporters and
critics say that the European Union's governing machinery, based in
Brussels, is a maze of bureaucratic red tape. Its officials are often
accused of being aloof and unresponsive to the needs of the European
citizens they supposedly serve.

The point, however, is not whether the Europeans are living up to their
dream. We Americans have never fully lived up to ours. Rather, what's
important is that Europe has articulated a new vision for the future that
differs from our own in fundamental ways. These basic differences are
crucial to understanding the dynamic that has begun to unfold between the
early 21st century's two great superpowers.

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Forging a Union

Unlike past states and empires whose origins are embedded in the myth of
heroic victories on the battle-field, the European Union is novel in being
the first mega governing institution in history to be born out of the ashes
of defeat. Rather than commemorate a noble past, it sought to ensure that
the past would never again be repeated. After a thousand years of
unremitting conflict, war, and bloodshed, the nations of Europe emerged from
two world wars with their population maimed and killed, their ancient
monuments and cities lying in ruins, their worldly treasures depleted, and
their way of life destroyed. Determined that they would never again take up
arms against each other, the nations searched for a political mechanism that
could move them beyond their ancient rivalries.

In a series of treaties following World War II, Europe's political elites
began the painstaking process of creating a united Europe, all the while
attempting to define the limits of power of the emerging European Community.
The federalists argued for ceding more power to the European central
authority. The confederalists, by contrast, tried to keep power in the hands
of the member states, viewing the new governing structure as a means to
strengthen and coordinate their national objectives. Every compromise along
the way reflected the tensions and strains between these two divergent
visions.

While the powers that be continue to jostle back and forth between
federalism and confederalism, the very technological, economic, and social
realities that gave rise to the European Community, and that continue to
push it along its journey to union, have created a political dynamic of a
different sort. Rather than becoming a super-state or a mechanism to
represent the enlightened national self-interests, the European Union has
metamorphosed into a third form. It has become a discursive forum whose
function is to referee relationships and help coordinate activity among a
range of players, of which the nation-state is only one. The European
Union's primary role has become orchestral. It facilitates the coming
together of networks of engagement that include nation-states, but also
extend outward to transnational organizations and inward to municipal and
regional governments, as well as civil society organizations.

The European Union, then, is less a place than a process. Its genius is its
indeterminacy. Unlike the traditional nation-state, whose purpose is to
integrate, assimilate, and unify the diverse interests inside its borders,
the European Union has no such mission. To the contrary, its role is just
the opposite of what nation-states do. Its political cachet is bound up in
facilitating and regulating a competing flow of divergent activities and
interests.

There has never been a governing institution like the European Union. True,
the European Union maintains many of the trappings of a state. Its laws
supersede those of its 25 nations. It has a currency (the euro), a flag, and
a headquarters. It regulates commerce and trade and coordinates energy,
transportation, communications, and, increasingly, education across its many
national borders. Its citizens enjoy a common EU passport. It has a European
Parliament, which makes laws, and a European Court, whose judicial decisions
are binding on member countries and their citizens. It also has a president
and a military force.

But though the European Union qualifies as a state in many important
particulars, it isn't one. It cannot tax its citizens, and its member
countries still enjoy a veto on any decision that would deploy their troops.
Most important, the European Union is an extraterritorial governing
institution. Although it regulates activity within its member states, it has
no claim to territory. Its legitimacy is based exclusively on the continued
trust and goodwill of its members and the treaties and directives -- and
soon a new constitution -- they have pledged to uphold.

Today, two-thirds of the people living across the European Union say they
feel "European." Six out of ten EU citizens say they feel "very attached" or
"fairly attached" to Europe, while one-third of Europeans between the ages
of 21 and 35 say they "now regard themselves as more European than as
nationals of their home country." Although it is difficult to fathom, this
extraordinary change in how Europe's people perceive themselves has occurred
in less than 50 years.

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A New Constitution

Europeans are in the midst of a historic debate over whether to ratify a
proposed constitution. Much of that 265-page document probably would not be
acceptable to most Americans. Although many passages are cribbed largely
from our own Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution's Bill of
Rights, there are other ideas and notions that are so alien to the
contemporary American psyche that they might be considered with suspicion or
even thought of as somewhat bizarre.

To begin with, there is not a single reference to God and only a veiled
reference to Europe's "religious inheritance." Strange, on a continent where
great cathedrals grace the central plazas of most cities and small churches
and chapels appear around every corner. Many Europeans no longer believe in
God. While 82 percent of Americans say that God is very important to them,
less than 20 percent of Europeans express similar religious convictions. God
is not the only consideration to be given short shift. There is only one
reference to private property tucked deep inside the document, and barely a
passing mention of free markets and trade.

Just as striking is what the constitution does emphasize. The EU objectives
include a clear commitment to "sustainable development . . . based on
balanced economic growth," a "social market economy," and "protection and
improvement of the quality of the environment." The constitution would also
"promote peace . . . combat social exclusion and discrimination . . .
promote social justice and protection, equality between men and women,
solidarity between generations, and protection of children's rights."

The constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights goes far beyond our own
Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments. For example, it
promises everyone preventive health care, daily and weekly rest periods, an
annual period of paid leave, maternity and parental leave, social and
housing assistance, and environmental protection.

The EU Constitution is something new in human history. Though it is not as
eloquent as the French and U.S. constitutions, it is the first governing
document of its kind to expand the human franchise to the level of global
consciousness. The language throughout the draft constitution speaks of
universalism, making it clear that its focus is not a people, or a
territory, or a nation, but rather the human race and the planet we inhabit.

By decoupling human rights from territoriality, the European Union has
ventured into a new political frontier, with far-reaching consequences for
the future of the human race. Citizenship, heretofore, has always been
attached exclusively to a nation-state. What happens, then, to the very idea
of the state when the political rights of its members are conferred and
guaranteed by an extraterritorial body? EU citizens have become the first
people in the world whose rights are no longer dependent on the
nation-state, but, rather, are universal and enforceable by law.

The gist of the new constitution is a commitment to respect human diversity,
promote inclusivity, champion human rights and the rights of nature, foster
quality of life, pursue sustainable development, free the human spirit for
deep play, build a perpetual peace, and nurture a global consciousness.
Together, these values and goals represent the woof and warp of a fledgling
European Dream.

Europe's newly emerging dream is already threatening to create a schism with
the United States in a number of areas. For example, the European Union
forbids capital punishment. Even a person who commits the most heinous of
crimes against fellow human beings, including terrorism or genocide, enjoys,
in the official words of the European Union, "an inherent and inalienable
dignity." The Europeans see their position on the death penalty as going to
the very heart of their new dream, and they hope to convince the world of
the righteousness of their cause.

The growing divisiveness between the American and European dreams manifests
itself in other ways. For instance, the U.S. government gave the green light
to genetically modified foods in the mid-1990s, and by the end of the decade
over half of America's agricultural land was given over to GM crops. No new
laws were enacted to govern the potential harmful effects. With its
commitment to the precautionary principle and reining in high-risk
scientific enterprise, in the name of sustainable development and
environmental protection, Europe responded quite differently. Massive
opposition to GM crops led to a de facto moratorium and tough new EU
protections covering this technology.

Although it's too early to tell exactly how successful the "United States"
of Europe will ultimately prove to be, in an era when our identities (and
problems) extend beyond borders, no nation will be able to go it alone 25
years from now. The European states are the first to understand and act upon
the emerging realities of a globally interdependent world. Others will
follow.

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The Future of a Dream

While I am an enthusiastic supporter of Europe's new experiment, my one real
reservation is that I'm not sure how thick the European Dream is. Is
Europe's commitment to cultural diversity and peaceful coexistence
substantial enough to withstand the kind of terrorist attacks that we
experienced on 9/11 or that Spain experienced on 3/11? Would Europeans
remain committed to the principles of inclusivity and sustainable
development were the world economy to plunge into a deep and prolonged
downturn, maybe even a global depression?

These are the kinds of challenges that test the mettle of a people and the
vitality and viability of their dream. Regardless of what others might think
about America, the American Dream has stood the test, in good times and bad.
We never lost hope in our dream, until very recently, even in the darkest
hours. Will Europeans be able to say the same about their own nascent dream?

Having spent nearly 20 years of my life working in both Europe and America,
I wonder whether the Europeans' sense of hope is sufficient to the task of
sustaining a new vision for the future. Dreams require optimism, a sense
that one's hopes can be fulfilled. Americans are flushed with hope and
optimism; Europeans, as a people, are less so. Still, they are guardedly
hopeful about their new union. And public opinion surveys show that a
younger generation is measured in its optimism. Perhaps that's all we can or
should expect. The unexamined optimism that has been so characteristic of
the American spirit has not always served us well. In a world of increasing
global threats, tempered enthusiasm balanced against a realistic assessment
of risks might be more appropriate.

But there's also a deep pessimistic edge ingrained in the European persona
-- understandable, perhaps, after so many misbegotten political and social
experiments, and so much carnage over the centuries. Failures can dash
hopes. But they can also make a people stronger, more resilient, and wiser.
Overcoming cynicism is going to be as difficult and challenging for
Europeans as overcoming naive optimism is for Americans.

These are tumultuous times. The European Dream is a beacon of light in a
troubled world. It beckons us to a new age of inclusivity, diversity,
quality of life, sustainability, universal human rights, the rights of
nature, and peace on earth. We Americans used to say that the American Dream
is worth dying for. The new European Dream is worth living for.

Jeremy Rifkin is the best-selling author of numerous books, including The
End of Work, The Biotech Century, The Age of Access, and The Hydrogen
Economy. He is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington,
D.C. Excerpted from The European Dream (Tarcher/Penguin, 2004).


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