Europe’s enemies might never forgive it the banality of its success. But I would like to celebrate it, to tell the tale of Europe’s escape from history, and to see how the lessons of that journey could help shape a more peaceful twenty-first century. My generation is the first in four generations of my family not to face war, persecution, exile, or even extermination. This book is an extended thank you letter to the visionaries on both sides of the Atlantic who have managed to create a Europe without drama.
There are many people who have made it possible for the book to happen.
First, the support of two unique institutions. The German Marshall Fund of the United States, under the leadership of its indefatigable and visionary President Craig Kennedy, was kind enough to think the project worth supporting, giving me a ‘Transatlantic Fellowship’, providing me with a home in Washington DC for five months, and opening the door to a remarkable community of thinkers and do-ers on both sides of the Atlantic. During my time in Washington, the staff of the GMF were like a surrogate family feeding me ideas, contacts, and inspiring me through their prodigious ability to get things done. I would like to thank Ronald Asmus, John Audley, Jeff Bergner, Maia Comeau, Mark Cunningham, Abigail Golden-Vazquez, Patricia Griffin, Nicola Hagen, Phillip Henderson, Myles Nienstadt, Ellen Pope, Sara Reckless, Kareem Saleh, Jeremiah Schatt, Susan Sechler, Ursula Soyez, Dan Twining, and Claudia Chantal Zackariya.
I must also thank the Board, Advisory Council and staff of the Foreign Policy Centre for allowing me to experience the pride and joy of creating and running the FPC for six happy years, and then continuing to give me support to work on this project, even while I was in America. I am grateful to Michael Levy, Liz Lloyd, Adam Lury, Fred Halliday, Meta Ramsay, Michael Butler, Stephen Twigg, Miles Webber, and above all Andrew Hood. I always value the intellectual companionship I have had from all my staff including Lucy Ahad, Greg Austin, Rob Blackhurst, Keith Didcock, Richard Gowan, Phoebe Griffith, Rouzbeh Pirouz, Andrew Small, and Mark Spokes.
A series of stellar research assistants supplied both intellectual and organisational support in London and Washington: Conrad Smewing, without whose penetrating intelligence and dedication this book would never have even been started; Julian von Fummetti whose stalwart assistance was crucial during my sabbatical in Washington DC; Richard Tite who provided material and insights for the chapter on economics; and Nadia Shabbaz who was with me at the end of the project, checking facts, and casting her eagle eye over numerous drafts.
I have presented some of the thoughts that turned into chapters at seminars where I have got invaluable feedback. At the British Council’s Prague Castle conference in 2003, the positive reactions of people like Christopher Coker, A.C. Grayling, Hamish McCrae, Sacha Vondra, and Michael Zantovsky all encouraged me to write a book. In February 2004, I spoke at a seminar at the LSE organised by George Lawson, where he along with Barry Buzan, Michael Cox, Chris Hill, and William Wallace gave me advice which has stood me in good stead. In Washington, the German Marshall Fund organised a lunch time seminar where I got friendly criticism and many ideas on how to strengthen my case for an American audience. Later at a GMF Conference in Dublin I was able to strengthen my arguments further after I shared a panel with the incomparable Walter Russell Mead. The British Council and the European Commission funded a conference in June on ‘Global Europe’ at Wilton Park where my ideas were tested by participants from most of the EU member states, the US, and Asia. Finally, I was invited to give a lecture at St Antony’s College Oxford, organised by Jan Zielonka and Timothy Garton Ash, two of the most creative and compelling thinkers on the future of Europe.
I have also benefited from talking through my thesis with many of the thinkers I admire the most. They include Phillip Bobbitt, Robert Cooper, Ivo Daalder, Daniel Drezner, Espen Barth Eide, Anthony Giddens, Ulrike Guérot, Fiona Hill, Stanley Hoffman, Rem Koolhaas, Stephen Krasner, Ian Lesser, Anatol Lieven, James Lindsay, Jessica Mathews, Mike McFaul, John Mearsheimer, Andrew Moravcsik, Geoff Mulgan, Joseph Nye, Martin Ortega, Ana Palacio, Bary Posen, Richard Rosecrance, Joshua Ramo, Michael Von der Schulenberg, Jeremy Shapiro, Radek Sikorski, Jim Steinberg, and Fareed Zakaria.
Malcolm Chalmers, Richard Gowan, Charles Grant, Simon Hix, Michael Hume, Philippe Legrain, Alasdair Murray, Andrew Small, Peter Wilson, Richard Youngs, Joshua Ramo all read some or all of the book in draft form and have improved them immeasurably through their comments.
While I was planning and writing the book, I was watched over by three intellectual god-fathers. Michael Butler, one of the creators of today’s European Union through his hard labours in Brussels, has given me rock-solid support on this project, as on so many others since I got to know him through the Foreign Policy Centre. Geoffrey Edwards, who taught me how the European Union, which I’d experienced in practice, works in theory has ploughed through various drafts and been ever available to talk through ideas. Bill Antholis was the perfect sounding-board, foil and dinner-host in Washington. Without his encouragement this book would never have been written.
My agent Maggie Pearlstine, and her colleague Jamie Crawford, immediately embraced the idea, helped to conceive of it as a book, and found a first-rate publisher, Fourth Estate, which has turned out to be a wonderful home for it. Caroline Michel and Nicholas Pearson instinctively understood the point of the book, Natasa Kennedy and Andrea Joyce have done a phenomenal job selling the rights to publishers across Europe, Robin Harvie has shown a remarkable commitment and ability to make my ideas spread to where books about Europe usually fail to reach. But, above all I must thank my editor, Mitzi Angel, for her wisdom, patience, and dedication. She is everything one could hope for in an editor and more.
Finally, I must thank my family to whom this volume is dedicated. My fiancee Gabrielle, my mother Irène, my father Dick, and my sister Miriam are the dancing stars of my galaxy. Their love, generosity, and tender criticism make life a gift.