Old Europe New Europe

Author: Tong Shijun, edited by Cao Weidong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: In 2003, the United States and the United Kingdom insisted on launching the Iraq War without the authorization of the UN Security Council, triggering the most severe U.S.-European political division since World War II, as well as ideological conflicts across the entire Western world. Just as the newly coined term "New Europe" had barely gained traction with the expansion of the European Union to the east, the U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mocked Germany and France as "Old Europe." In reality, "New" and "Old Europe" have become synonymous with support or opposition to U.S. policies. A significant event that drew global public attention due to the U.S.-European political division was on May 31, 2003, when European public intellectuals such as Habermas, without any prior announcement, published articles in major European newspapers simultaneously, calling on intellectuals worldwide to unite and become the vanguard against U.S. aggression. At the same time, the European Constitutional Convention, after years of arduous work, finally completed the draft constitution for the future of Europe. The intellectual movement to revitalize Europe and the drafting of the European constitution made the idea of European revival a tangible reality in theory, ideology, and practice. This book collects articles from renowned scholars who advocate European revival and oppose U.S.-British unilateralism, as well as rebuttals from those who hold opposing views. It aims to help readers understand what is really happening between the U.S. and Europe today? What are Europe's claims? Will the U.S.-European political, military alliance, and cultural identity truly break apart as a result? What impact will the U.S.-European political conflict have on China?