America and Europe: Conflict and Power

About the Book

The clash between US hegemony and the EU and its attendant international organisational framework is really a ‘typical’ clash, often seen in history, between differing views of socio-economic organisation. The Americans though ‘statist’, have a marked disposition towards realism, power and liberal economics. The Europeans and Canada prefer a state managed economy, equality, social cohesion, post modern rhetoric and international dialogue. In such a confrontation we have a clash of orthodox liberal freedoms against that of state managed socialism. With US unilateralism on the rise we may finally face an inevitable re-concentration of power at the nation state level, or at the very least a more honest realignment of true power within the world system. Basically the world will be reordered towards hegemonic regional groupings dominated by state powers. Premised upon security, economics and shared values these regional groupings will prove to be far more relevant and important than the current trans-national ‘global’ institutions that dominate current inter-nation state politics and co-operation. A reordering in the international political economy [IPE] is long overdue and vital for the general prosperity of the world as orthodox Western liberal philosophies become constrained by overarching bodies zealous to regulate, control and bureaucratize. Recent crises have catalyzed a mounting criticism and questioning of internationalism and will result in a return to some form of uneasy state centric calculus. Prominent failures of international bodies have started to hasten the demise of the ‘inter-nation’ order and its supposed moral superiority and commitment to international peace and development.

About the Author

Read born in 1966, holds master degrees in business and political science and a computer science certificate. Read has worked and lived in Europe, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Chile and Russia [all in IT]. Read has studied extensively the modern historical period and has published 2 books on Winston Churchill (1997 and 2000) and ‘America and Europe’ (2004). Read has been a political consultant, advisor, writer as well as contributor to newspapers, articles, webzines and political organizations. In addition Read manages 2 technology groups in Toronto. Read has his own website www.craigread.com