The European Dream Hardcover – August 19, 2004

The European Dream

By Jeremy Rifkin

Book Review

By Richard Edward Noble

The "European Dream" by Jeremy Rifkin was published in 2004, well before the Great Recession. I knew the book would be out of sync with the current world economy but I thought it would be interesting to see how Jeremy's ideas held up through this trying period.

First, what is the European Dream and what is the American Dream for that matter?
The European Dream according to Jeremy Rifkin:

"The European Dream emphasizes community relationships over individual autonomy, cultural diversity over assimilation, quality of life over the accumulation of wealth, sustainable development over unlimited material growth, deep play over unrelenting toil, universal human rights and the rights of nature over property rights, and global cooperation over the unilateral exercise of power."

And now for Jeremy's interpretation of the American Dream:

"That dream emphasizes the unbridled opportunity of each individual to pursue success, which, in the American vernacular, has generally meant financial success. The American dream is far too centered on personal material advancement and too little concerned with the broader human welfare to be relevant in a world of increasing risk, diversity, and interdependence. It is an old dream, immersed in the frontier mentality that has long since become passé."

Jeremy contends that the European Dream, sponsored and promoted by the EU (European Union), is extremely progressive. He is clearly an intellectual progressive.

So first the reader must ask if this is all Jeremy's imagination or objective fact.

Jeremy supports his thesis with declaration after declaration from the EU coupled with policy notions and contentions that support his interpretation of the economic community. These declarations certainly support his thesis.

So it is contended and seems to be fact that the EU is/was a progressive economic organization up until the year 2004.

The idea is presented that the EU desired to become a sort of United States of Europe. As with the United States an immediate battle ensued between the sovereign rights of the individual nation states and the economic community. This battle the author admits is/was on going.

Unlike the United States the EU is a non-territorial community based on universal human rights and the sharing of their economic interests. Like the United States it is founded on an idea or philosophy and not one's place of birth.

One goal, for those presenting this view, has been to promote the notion of nation state members thinking of themselves as being European as opposed to being a Frenchman or a German.

Another goal is the globalization of the community outlook in tune with their notion of universal humanitarian rights as opposed to individual nation states' rights - private property and other exclusionist notions.
Since the world economic collapse we have seen changes taking place and conflicts arising in both the U. S. and Europe.

In our last presidential election here in the U.S. we all witnessed a direct assault on progressive notions of any sort. The moneyed interest attacked and put forward a program of extreme regressive, conservative notions. They were supported by a large number of Americans but in the final tally they were defeated by a majority of American voters.

After reading Jeremy's book it appears that a similar assault has been taking place in Europe.

The progressives, liberals and workers are rioting in the streets of one nation after another in Europe while the moneyed interest and the conservatives attempt to enforce their will from the main governments and the power positions.

It is very easy to see now after reading "the European Dream" why the power brokers, moneyed interests, conservatives and plutocrats would be so vehement in attacking liberalism and the spread of progressivism in Europe. These liberal and progressive notions were much more advanced in Europe than in the U.S. To turn Europe and the European Union around in its direction would be a major victory for the conservative and moneyed interests around the world.

The war between labor and capital interests has never been concluded. No truce or treaty has ever been signed. No laws or settlements have ever been arranged. Consequently exploitation by capital management is strong in third world countries and the first world countries have closed their eyes to the goings-on in these poorer nations.
They trade freely, ignoring humanitarian rights and violations to basic human dignity.

This has kept the capitalists fat, sassy, wealthy and powerful. Now they are making their bid for the re-establishedment of their basic dominance in mainstream industrial nations and all the old rivals are back at each other throats. We are witnessing a replay of the period from 1850 through 1950.

The fighting in the streets is also more advanced in Europe than the U.S. because the workers, middle class and the lesser-off have much more to lose in Europe than they did in the U.S.

Although I agree with much of what has been presented in this book in terms of goals and aspirations, once again, I find Mr. Rifkin far more advanced in his thinking than the world at this time is ready to accept.

I find Mr. Rifkin's idea of a non-territorial, non-ethnic, global economic cooperative at least 100 years too soon. I even have doubts about such a possibility at all.

Nation state loyalty, pride, patriotism, competitive well-being and security may be more genetic than contrived as Mr. Rifkin contends.

The "I'm a citizen of the world" idea was presented a couple of centuries back by Tom Paine. The world was not ready for it then and is not ready for it now in my opinion.

There are more people claiming to be World Citizens today than there were in 1776 but it is still a very small minority. Those that speak in those terms are still looked upon as lonely voices screaming in the wilderness.
I doubt if any French or German citizens are contemplating disavowing their Nation State for a World Citizen birth certificate.

I don't see any such thing happening here in the United States either.

The global economy is also losing ground. Americans are screaming for more products to be made and manufactured here in America and Europe seems to be heading in that direction also.

None of the workers of the Western advanced economies are looking forward to a lower standard of living. The wealthy, capitalists, and international conglomerates are saying they must and the laborers and workers are saying they will not.

I see Nation States here to stay and growing stronger and the global economy waning and getting weaker - not the reverse.

The European Dream is food for thought as are the other books that I have read by Mr. Rifkin.
I see Mr. Rifkin as ahead of his time and utopian in scope and flavor. He certainly has a dream. But to me his dream is more of a fantasy.

One interesting aside to me, as pointed out by the author but expressed in my words and not his, is how the American government and its love for war and imperialism has been instrumental in promoting the European

Progressive Dream. If it were not for the American Government's huge military spending in Europe a much greater portion of the European citizen's tax money would have gone into their national defense programs and consequently their advanced progressive agenda would have been curtailed somewhat. If not curtailed, it would have taken a greater monetary commitment and sacrifice on the part of the Europeans to achieve these positive social goals.
As it turned out, the U.S., in the name of national security, financed a good portion of the better life for the European citizens while sacrificing a better life for its citizens here at home.

This was and is not a good bargain in my opinion.

The Hobo Philosopher, Richard Edward Noble, is a writer and the author of: "Hooked on Books."

I personally believe that America can take a lesson from European thought in the way it stress communitarianism.

There are some very illuminating observations Rifkin brings up in his book - illustrating the contrasts of secularism vs. religiosity, more individualism vs. less individualism, etc. However, this book is horribly slanted to the eurocentric position (and I am one who is the opinion that europe IS better in a lot of ways) - this slant is considerable enough to get in the way of the main thrusts of this book. This book also has a "dreamy" quality - Rifkin seems to gloss over a lot of shortcomings - particularly the difficulty in ethnic and socioeconomic melding (as relatively poor Eastern Europe joins the union). My opinion of this book is colored by the fact that France rejected the EU constitution while I was reading this book, disproving the Rifkin idea that Europe is currently speaking with one voice. Rifkin's book is a nice dream, but it at this time, a dream in his head.

Interesting book. It paints a very rosy picture of the EU before the global recession and the austerity measures that followed, so I imagine any follow-up book would be a bit more somber. That being said, it was an interesting -- if somewhat biased -- look at Europe, from a perspective I hadn't read before.

Jeremy Rifkin, a fellow at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program and president of The Foundation of Economic Trends in Washington DC, has been alerting us to America's decline for many years (in books such as: The End of Work and The Age of Access). In the European Dream, he once again charts our decline: this time it's the American dream - it's dying a slow death. In contrast, the European dream is the vision of the future. The arguments Rifkin puts forth are very powerful, but he overstates his case.

In the first half of this book, he takes us through the entire history of the modern age. He's trying too hard to be profound. He touches on everything from the origin of modern capitalism, the creation of the modern state, the rise of the bourgeoisie, differing conceptions of space and time, the "Great Chain of Being", and European and American views of religion. What all the historical and philosophical background boils down to is that, whereas Americans are more indivdualistic and religious, the Europeans are more secular and community oriented. He describes it as follows: "The European dream emphasizes community relationships over individual autonomy, cultural diversity over assimilation, quality of life over accumulation of wealth, sustainable development over unlimited material growth, deep play over unrelenting toil, universal human rights and rights of nature over property rights, and global cooperation over the unilateral excercise of power."

Cultural diversity over assimilation? Europe has been so staunchly secular that the headscarf of Muslim women - or any outward display of religious affiliation - is not allowed in public schools. Americans, on the other hand, are more comfortable with religious symbols, being religious folk themselves. Moreover, it is reductionist to say that Europe is multicultural and America is assimilationist. In reality they both have pockets of unassimilated immigrants - Muslims in Europe, Latinos in the US. Multiculturalism creates pockets of otherness that are outside the mainstream.

Deep play over unrelenting toil? Yes, Europeans have an average of six weeks paid vacation annually, while the Americans have only two. Europeans have better healthcare service - no one is uninsured. American spend more per capita on healthcare, yet 40 million are without health insurance. European schoolchildren outperform their American counterparts in math, science, and literacy; while Americans spend more per capita on education. It can be argued that the quality of life is better in Europe. They have always been better at distributing social goods and providing for leisure time. The welfare state is a source of pride, rather than derision.

The second half of this book goes under the heading "The Coming of the Global Era." Once you look past some of the business school buzzwords, you start see what is happening in Europe, or what has been happening over the last half century. They are forging an ever closer union that is being negotiated on a continental scale, and it is a work still in progress. Rifkin describes the novelty of the European Union as a governing institution. It is a transnational government whose laws supersede those of its 25 nations. It has its own parliment, its own court of law, its own passport, its own foreign policy, and its own military. It regulates trade, energy, communications, transportation, and education across national borders. It does not levy taxes, but it has an annual budget that is funded by member nations. The European Union does not control territory in the traditional sense of a nation state - it is an extraterritorial governing institution. Who will join next? Turkey? Ukraine?

Critics will say that they are duplicating government, bureaucracy, and regulatory power. True. The interesting thing, however, about the European model is that it may be the next stage of globalizaton, the stage beyond the nation state. Globaliztion of trade and finance has been around for hundreds of years. The new European model is about the disappearance of boundries - geographical, linguistic, physical - in an ever shrinking world. A few hundred years ago it was questioned whether Europeans from fiefdoms and principalities could feel loyalty to a nation state. Not in the beginning, but eventually they became ardent nationalists with their ensuing tragedies. Now they are asking themselves whether they can pledge allegiance to a transnational entity such as the European Union. Two-thirds say yes. Only time will tell.