What’s All the Hype About Europe?

Much is being made of Europe in foreign policy circle these days. For one, the European Union’s economy is now larger than the United States’ economy. Its collective population is also larger than that of the United States. While these are important facts, the assumption that these numbers are indicators of European ascendency is naive.

First and foremost, don’t let these population and economic numbers fool you. Europe’s population is on the decline all across the board and that won’t be changing anytime soon. It’s hard to imagine Europe as a great power without any Europeans. And its economy…that’s a whole other story. Its steady pace of 1-2% growth is abysmal. In another 25 to 30 years, when China’s GDP surpasses the U.S., Europhiles should shudder to think about the depths to which the European economy will have sunk.

Perhaps the most important reason for Europe’s global insignificance is that for all its economic and population grandeur it is still a fractious and divided continent. While we may laugh at the French and Italian governments for arguing about their own wines and cheeses, this comical side show is a symptom of the true ‘disease’ that will continue to relegate Europe to a bystander position in international politics. Simply put, Europe is not a nation, no matter how much the Europhiles wish it is. Each country in Europe has its own independent entity, with its own goals, values, and, of course, its own military (the true kicker). How can Europe expect to take a proper military stand when each country must defend its own borders? Europe cannot agree on a common foreign policy (except in efforts useless to international security politics, like climate change). As long as Europe continues to be this divided in security issues it will remain in the shadows of America and China.

Finally, no one should ever expect Europe to be a global leader as long as each important country in Europe looks to the United States for leadership. By these important countries I mean Great Britain, France, Germany (and maybe Italy). Because Europe truly is not its own entity but merely an apparatus of economic policies its units will behave in the same way non-great power states do: they fall into line. Seeing as, for the moment, the United States is the only game in town, we can expect American leadership in the European continent for many years to come.

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