"Why Europe (Not China) is the World’s Second Superpower"

Princeton Professor Andrew Moravcski (who graduated from Churchill High School in Eugene) lectured at the White Stag building to a World Affairs Council and University of Oregon audience last night on “Wealth and Power in the 21^st Century: Why Europe (Not China) is the World’s Second Superpower.” He argued that China's rise is exaggerated, that Europe’s power is underappreciated, and that Europe provides a more attractive social-political model for the future.

He noted that, based on GNP, Europe at $17.5 trillion is now larger in economic terms than either the US at $14.8 trillion or China at $5.4 trillion. And that, even if China grows at an 8% per year as Europe grows at 2% per year,  it will take decades before China is bigger than Europe (my spreadsheet calculations yield 22 years).

In terms of current military power, the US spends about 45% of total global military spending. Europe spends 21%. China spends 5%. Russia spends 3%, and India spends 2%. (I wish this perspective on the “China treat” was shared in the Pentagon, among defense contractors, and on Capitol Hill. We could shift some of our defense spending.)

On the attractiveness of the European model, Moravcsik said Europeans work on average 400 hours less per year than Americans and make less.  But polls show that American would like to work less (in exchange for less income), but cannot. Our economic system does not let us cut back. American would prefer the European model of working less and making less.

Moravcsik argues that Europe is a “civilian, smart power.” These attributes have to do with the ways it engages the world (true international trade, high foreign aid, support for multilateral institutions and law, and the attractiveness of European values). Of interest to me would be how essential to this soft power are the strong foreign languages and study abroad programs of European countries.

For example, I checked Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) data (here) on high school age study abroad. CSIET’s data for 2010-11 shows that 1,972 US high school students studied abroad, 1,179 in Europe, while 17,673 European high school students studied in the United States.

For more on Professor Moravcsik's idea, see his website here.

Comments

[Pandora Charms]

On the attractiveness of the European model, Moravcsik said Europeans work on average 400 hours less per yea

[christian louboutin]

On the attractiveness of the European model, Moravcsik said Europeans work on average

[pandora]

He argued that China's rise is exaggerated, that Europe’s power is underappreciated, and that Europe provides a more attractive social-political model for the future.

[pandora Bracelets]

and that Europe provides a more attractive social-political model for the future.

[louboutin sale]

On the attractiveness of the European model, Moravcsik said Europeans work on average