Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Tales of globalization invariably return to one of two geographies – the European Union or the United States. In the case of Europe this turning is a romantic longing: a sense that Europe is the peaceful way of the global future. With good luck and good governance we can imagine Europe is what globalization will mean for all of us: eroding borders and diminished sovereignty, all to mutual benefit. Europe is set on a course of steady expansion, spreading the blanket of strong human rights protections and robust international law ever eastward and southward. Candidate countries are eager to comply and join; enticed by the prospect of economic union, they rush to improve conditions of human flourishing. What could be better for all than to turn the globe itself into an area of freedom security and justice? The United States is the twin avatar of globalization. Although the image is not exclusively rosy, the United States is the sole remaining superpower, winner of the Cold War, uncontested hegemon. In contrast to Europe, the United States is engaged in a more “direct delivery” method for the global spread of democracy and human rights. There is enormous contestation within and outside the United States about the virtues and values of its war on terror. This is a debate about methods, not about the ultimately unambiguous good of conquering terrorism and bringing the disputes it represents within an appropriately broad democratic umbrella.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.