8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Visionary Politics, July 10, 2006
Chris Patten, a British politician, cabinet Minister, and EU functionary, has written a political autobiography of his life and times with astute commentary on the events of the last 40 years and a look toward the future of The World.
Patten has the usual British taste for understatement, delicately slicing rather than hammering people he does not like, who include George Bush -- although he is judicious in his Bush bashing and avoids making this a book about only America. Instead, he talks much of the EU, an institutuion of enormous importance and stultifying boringness.
It is the support of Americans for the IRA that seems to arouse his ire the most but unconditional American support for Israel and the Iraq war also grab his attention. He also throws small bombs at the pompous Jacques Chirac, former PM Maggie Thatcher, and Tony Blair. But this is not a political expose or a book of revenge on political opponents. Rather, Patten seeks to impart some of the wisdom he has accumulated, to speculate on the role of India and China in the future, and to affirm his faith in the collective rather than the cowboy approach to world affairs. He succeeds in being intelligent and civilized. Political junkies will find this book to be one of the better of its type. His dissection of the British/American relationship will be of the most interest to those on this side of the Atlantic.
Smallchief
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Working relationship, June 6, 2006
Patten writes a strong book on the why, how and who to international relationship and the importance of working together for the greater good. The author shows the importance of the up and coming Asia and south East Asia countries and their influence on relationships and trust. A very good and timely book, a must read for those who want to understand positions of countries in the world today and the future.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The man who knows too much, April 5, 2007
This review is from: Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a New Century (Paperback)
Chris Patten has been everywhere and done many things. Such experience fills his memory with many aspects of international dealings. Gaining a focus on all that information and conveying it to readers in an organised fashion proves difficult, as this book shows. In an account of what he's observed over the years - "as close to a memoir as I will come" - he tries to explain the United Kingdom's struggle to balance its own interests with that of others. The "others" are Europe and the United States. How well does he achieve this?
After a rather rambling start, Patten gets to his theme: where does the UK stand in relation to its two most significant allies - the US and the EU? He emphasises that these are collectives, not single entities. This is important to remember as he discusses the formation and dealings within the EU and its relations with the rest of the world. It further raises questions of "sovereignty" and how that is considered by the three groupings under discussion. Sovereignty is something debateable and adjustable as the EU has successfully demonstrated. The US has taken a more rigid stance on the concept, which has inhibited its relations with the EU and coloured its dealings with the UK and the UN, the fourth element to be considered.
Patten strains somewhat to establish and maintain his "conservative" credentials. As a politician, he's a fairly staunch British Conservative. As a diplomat, however, the small "c" conservative has been the foundation of his dealings with nations and agencies. As a conservative, there are factors he wishes to protect and promote. He wants to retain the internationalism that prevailed at the end of WWII and, in the West, throughout the Cold War. The Marshall Plan, designed to restore post-war Europe, proves his most reliable model and he urges readoption of its ideals. While urging this restitution, he cannot avoid taking a swipe at the self-declared "neocons" in Washington and their unilateral approach to world situations. Internationalism, Patten urges, has been successfully demonstrated and should be encouraged further. The UK, in its special position as well as its "special relation", is best suited to take up this cause most effectively.
Patten's distaste for Bush and his cronies is not one that will be flushed away with a dose of Listerine. Although the author feels that US exceptionalism has shallow roots, mostly fertilised by its contributions in two great wars and its self-congratulatory outlook to the collapse of the Soviet Empire, he fails to see how deeply that unilateral attitude actually resides. A product of expansion into the political vacuum of North America, US unilateralism will not be excised by the admonitions of the last governor of Hong Kong. His approach is to hope "we can all sit down and reason together", but while that has certainly worked in Europe - in no small part due to Patten's own efforts - it's unlikely to be viewed with welcome in the US any time soon. Nor is it as pervasive in his own country as he would wish it. Patten's observations, particularly at the end of the book where he considers the rising power of China, are valuable and meaningful. That, his disavowals aside, this is a heavily personalised account enhances, does not diminishes its worth. It's not the only paean to international cooperation, but it's a worthy contribution. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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