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Article: Finding common ground: competing US and European interests. (Perspectives on the United States).
- Article from:
- Harvard International Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Harvard International Relations Council, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Robert Kagan argues that the United States and Europe embrace completely different attitudes toward the use of military power. Europe, he tells us, is a self-contained world of international law and cooperation among states whose security is sustained through treaty and mediation. The United States, in contrast, believes that international law is unreliable and that, according to Kagan, "true security and the defense and promotion of a liberal order still depend on the possession and use of military might."
Kagan assures us, however, that this difference should not be attributed to any inherent virtue or vice of national character. Rather, we are witnessing a ...