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March 26, 2005

The American Dream vs. the European Dream

American author Jeremy Rifkin was interviewed Friday in Deadline, a Danish news program, about his book “The European Dream”, in which he claims that a newly emerging European dream seems more appealing to many than the better-known American Dream (read his October 2004 article in the Washington Post).

Rifkin thinks president Bush is “starting to wake up to the fact that he cannot ignore Brussels”, indicated by his latest visit to Europe (see earlier entry). The European Union’s GDP was larger than he United States’ a year ago, the EU is the largest exporting power in the world today, the EU has the largest commercial market, and 61 out of the 140 world’s largest companies are European, whereas only 50 of these are American. Further, the EU now leads in key industries like banking, insurance, chemicals, aero space, and engineering. All this makes the EU a possible challenger to US world dominance, which is why the ideology or dream of Europe becomes important.

The American dream sees America as the land of opportunity: if you can get a good education and if you work hard, you can become a success in your life. That dream has been robust for at least 150 years. Even as late as in 1960 the US was the most middle-class egalitarian country in the world. Unfortunately, according to Rifkin, today the American dream has seriously unraveled. Today, the US ranks 24th among industrial countries in income disparity – the gap between rich and poor. Only Mexico and Russia have greater disparity in income. Today, polls show that only 51 percent of Americans believe in the American dream, and more to the point one third say they don’t believe in the dream at all. In Rifkin’s mind, the basic problem with the American dream is that it is founded on the individual, which is problematic in an increasingly globalized world.

There is a new dream emerging in Europe, however, which in many ways present an alternative. According to Rifkin, a lot of young people around the world are beginning to look to this European dream the way so many generations looked to the American dream in the last century. Whereas the American dream aims for “personal success in life”, the European dream aims for “a good quality of life for one’s family and community”. Rifkin lays out the European dream as incorporating:

1) Inclusivity: the idea that no one should be abandoned totally by society, and that we have an obligation to our fellow human beings; 2) Respecting multicultural diversity; 3) Promoting a good quality of life for the community; 4) A strong commitment to sustainable development, the environment, and the earth; 5) Promotion of social rights and universal human rights; 6) Balancing work and play; and 7) Peace and harmony.

Hard to live up to, and a somewhat naïve and optimistic dream some may say. Rifkin admits this, but points out that this is the first “dream” that attempts to create a global consciousness in a globalized world: “It may be too ambitious, but it’s an extraordinary departure”, says Rifkin.

In my opinion, this story is interesting to our blog since Rifkin’s book contributes to an understanding of what the EU project is also about: creating an alternative to the American project, which many seem to dislike for numerous reasons. Are the emerging conflicts between the US and EU (Kyoto, ICC, multilateralism and so on) really a clash of ideas based on different “dreams”, or do the two powers simply have different interests?

Posted March 26, 2005 12:32 AM

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