Of Paradise and Power

Essay by jacksonhodgesCollege, Undergraduate October 2014

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Jackson Hodges

Dr. Davis

PS 238

Kagan Essay

April 7, 2013

Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order

Robert Kagan, a leading intellectual of American foreign policy, strategically attempts to make each side see one another's view points in his book, "Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order." Europe, he asserts, has evolved into its own self-contained world. While America utilizes submission and absolute authority within a world where rules and laws are undependable, and military power is often necessary. Kagan claims that the modern struggle between the United States and Europe is not merely a consequence of policy disagreements, nor the Bush administration's foreign policy methods. He asserts that it is rooted in the sharp contrast of American power and European weakness.

America's leading global standing has transformed it into a militaristic happy world, in which inferior threats have made it quick to utilize physical force.

Whereas, Europe now searches for harmony through diplomacy and law. Partly attributed to the security guarantee of the United States, Europeans have created a political atmosphere that fosters inaction and promotes peaceful conclusions. However, Kagan states that Europe has inadvertently made itself weak, as its countries lack the ability to face the lawless dangers of the wider world. Kagan proclaims that America's practical politics is a coupling of Republican administrations fueling deeper manifestations of American power. Ultimately, this has lead to an increasing separation in strategic views and an erosion of unity.

As Kagan alluded to earlier, Europe is diverging from the use of power, and transitioning into a

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self-possessed reality of international discussion and cooperation. Americans essentially view the world in divisions of good and evil. The American mindset constantly craves the solutions to problems and...