I was fortunate enough to attend the Cornell International Affairs Review inaugural event. Peter Katzenstein and Hubert Zimmermann discussed their thoughts on regionalism in the 21st century - in particular, the European Union vis a vis the United States.
The two wise Germans both cautioned against overexuberance, though Hubert the Younger did show more enthusiasm and hope for a deeper, more proactive Europe than Peter the Elder. Both were very clear, insightful, and a joy to listen to.
As always, I was also struck by the tremendous charm and intelligence of the undergraduate population here. They are more than drunks on Wednesday nights, or vain trust fund babies snorting away their fortunes and heritage one line at a time. These individuals, of varying strengths and weaknesses, are the flower of youth, the idealized embodiment of why we fight. Yes, the men were handsome and the women breathtakingly beautiful. But more than that, there was a quiet optimism that I had forgotten - that here, in the presence of some of the greatest minds in the world, there would emerge, if not answers, the beginnings of the right questions.
It is this issue that I tried, and failed, to articulate in my question. Each new generation faces a challenge, brought about by competition and technology and biology, to redefine itself, frequently in opposition to its predecessors. How then, given demographic trends, would an Old Europe deal with the natural tensions involving changing of the guard, compounded with the fact that the youth would, increasingly, consist of immigrant Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa? Similarly, how would the United States redefine itself as the Hispanic population grows, and the American WASP ceases to become the face of Main Street?
Hubert responded by suggesting that the European Muslim population was much smaller than was often supposed - 20 million out of roughly 500 million total citizens, or on the order of 4 percent. This, by the way, is roughly the proportion of total US population that is of Asian descent - for this reason, and many others, I contend that he underplays the importance of this demographic shift, in conjunction with declining populations in absolute numbers of white Europeans.
Peter suggested that the key issue is what system would be better equipped to embrace the change and use what he calls the "positive cultural capital" of immigrants to advance in the 21st century. He argued that European identity, while secular, is culturally rooted in Christianity. The discussions concerning the expansion of Europe, and what would happen to Yugoslavia after Tito focused on Croatia being Catholic, but Serbia being Orthodox and therefore "outside" of Europe. By contrast, he felt that the United States has been, and will continue to be, more comfortable with multiculturalism than Europe, and therefore will be able to capitalize on the demographic shift more readily.
Ceteris paribus, my ultra-simple, assumption-ridden equation for economic power is output = population x productivity. American population grows because of immigration. That, our less comprehensive social safety net, lower taxes, higher productivity gains, and other socioeconomic/cultural features (real and constructed) help explain the difference in growth trajectories between the EU and US.
The CIAR Executive Vice-President made allusions to The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama's memoir. Peter Katzenstein also suggested that Obama represented the face of America's future. I have not yet endorsed a candidate for the presidency, but do have some thoughts to share on the expectations associated with the 2008 election.
Hope is indeed audacious. For hope, as it is often branded by pretenders to the throne, is fundamentally a willingness to break with the past, to tell the older generations that their ways were at best good enough for their time, or, more typically, that they had brought ruin and destruction. It is to say to the old, "You are guilty of political and economic Alzheimer's, which struck too early for you to be wise, and too late for you to be harmless."
It is also incredibly seductive to we young, relatively powerless students who have always chafed with impatience under authority and tradition. (I highly recommend Stanley Milgram's classic text, Obedience to Authority, to anyone seeking to understand the fragility of our lauded civilization, and the recipes for both obedience and revolt. History tells us that we need not substitute one pied piper for another who plays melodies more harmonious. (This is not being quite fair to the candidates, but bear with me.) Rather, the inconvenient truth of what it is to be an adult, women and men in every sense of the word, is that we must give away some of the toys of youth, and realize that no government ever known on Earth can absolve us of our individual responsibility as human beings to do well and do good.
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." (1 Cor 13:11)
Europe struggles to define itself. America struggles with our identity and place in the world. The struggles are, in practice, led by the educated, the powerful, and the charismatic, with not much input from anyone else. I think it's fair to say that a careful analysis of both sides of the Atlantic reveal plenty of the oft-muttered "democratic deficit".
But at its best, the struggles represent the struggle of individuals in each nation/region. We define ourselves through our art, our commerce, our votes, our travel. But all of these are surface - the substance is the struggle with rough-hewn stone to build our character and multifaceted identity.
Peter made an important comment that Barack Obama represented in some ways the face of America's future. I believe he was referring specifically to the fact that he is African-American, but let me extend the thought a bit further.
On October 3, 2007, Barack Obama was hitting the stump in Iowa. As he was fielding questions on policy and the economy, one question was asked that was particularly unusual. An audience member asked, "What would you say is the most painful and character-building experience of your life that puts you in a position to make important decisions of life and death and the well being of our country?”
As reported by the NYTimes, he paused for a couple seconds, then said: "It's a terrific question."
His answer, as reported by the NYTimes:
“I would say the fact that I grew up without a father in the home. What that meant was that I had to learn very early on to figure out what was important and what wasn’t, and exercise my own judgment and in some ways to raise myself.
My mother was wonderful and was a foundation of love for me, but as a young man growing up, I didn’t have a lot of role models and I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned to figure out that there are certain values that were important to me that I had to be true to.
Nobody was going to force me to be honest. Nobody was going to force me to work hard. Nobody was going to force me to have drive and ambition. Nobody was going to force me to have empathy for other people. But if I really thought those values were important, I had to live them out.
That’s why it’s so important for me now, both as a United States senator and as a president candidate, but also as a father and a husband to wake up every morning and ask myself, am I living up to those values that I say are important? Because if I’m not, then I shouldn’t be president.”
Europe will not build itself. Nor will America. Nor will China emerge democratic and free without individual action, individual responsibility, and individual character. It matters not that we had no father to guide us. We have living examples in Barack Obama and, less visibly, Harry Reid, of men who recognized the value and necessity for us to transcend what we are given - in this case, the fathers we have - , and become stronger, more just, more wise, though the world tells us to go home, give up, and embrace a somnambulant stupor that is a half-life.
Progress, and civilization itself, depends upon the desire and ability to do better. For this effort, we rightly look toward Peter and Hubert for guidance. For the hands that will build this new world, we must look to our own, and our peers in every walk of life.
On the eve of Valentine's Day, I can say that no woman ever broke my heart as badly as America has. But hearts will mend, through many stitches, softer words, and time.
Better get started.
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