Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America

by Andrei S. Markovits

Book Overview

No survey can capture the breadth and depth of the anti-Americanism that has swept Europe in recent years. From ultraconservative Bavarian grandmothers to thirty-year-old socialist activists in Greece, from globalization opponents to corporate executives--Europeans are joining in an ever louder chorus of disdain for America. For the first time, anti-Americanism has become a European lingua franca.

In this sweeping and provocative look at...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691122873
• ISBN13: 9780691122878
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Uncouth Europe

This book does not pretend to be a history but an argument into the nature of anti-Americanism. It is, if you like, a lengthy (and by and large convincing) Op-Ed. The basic argument is this: anti-Americanism (an emotion masquerading as analysis) is everywhere in the Europe of today. It "is unifying West Europeans more than any other political emotion--with the exception of a common hostility toward Israel. In today's West Europe these two closely related antipathies are now considered proper etiquette. They constitute common fare among West Europe's cultural and media elites, but also throughout society itself from London to Athens and from Stockholm to Rome." Furthermore, in today's Europe "by being anti-American, paradoxically, one adheres to a prejudice that ipso facto, seems to confer on its bearer a stamp not of intolerance but of legitimate resister and opponent against a truly powerful force in the world." Someone who is anti-American is (by definition) "good" and "European"; someone who is (conversely) American or pro-American is "bad", "non-European", and (increasingly although Markovits does not dwell on this racist phenomenon) "Asian". The America depicted in European discourse does not, of course, have anything to do with the actual America. In European discourse, America "is regarded as "dangerous, commercial, nationalistic, undemocratic, antiwelfare, crude, religious, puritanical, vulgar" (and of course irresistibly attractive to Europeans who are its exact opposite). This is not a picture of nation-state that ever existed or exists; it is the picture of God and Satan (with Europeans as God and Americans as Satan). It should thus not surprise us that when bad things happen to Satan, Europeans can barely hide their glee. In October of 2001, Markovits relates that European intellectual began to tell their audience that "Americans were finally receiving a long overdue punishment for all their misdeeds in the past; that the whole thing was really no big deal because many more Americans lost their lives in traffic accidents; that the destruction of the Twin Towers benefited New York aesthetically; that the Israeli Mossad was behind all this; that the entire event had been staged by the American government" and on and on. Much of this hateful discourse is with us still. And Markovits points out that this antipathy is not returned by Americans. Quite the contrary. Not only do we want closer ties with Europe (Europeans want to sever theirs with us) but (as Markovits points out) it is quite simply impossible to imagine that, had the Groupe Islamique Armee succeeded in crashing Air France Airbus into the Eiffel Tower on December 24, 1994 the American discourse about Europe in general and France in particular would have been filled with anything but solidarity. Where Markovits and I part company is in his seeing anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism as twin brothers. I think there is, indeed, a relation between the two "isms"

A sound provocation

The book excels on two levels: it is academically sound - and politically a provocation. Andrei Markovits challenges all the politicians and diplomats, political sicentists and journalists who insist that there is still much of a common ground between the US and Europe. Based on an avalanche of empirical evidence, Markovits proves that Anti-Americanism has become the European "lingua franca" - left and right, upper and lower classes united in an aggressive prejudice directed against the United States. Markovits' approach is especially convincing as he is neither a "neo-con" nor defending Bush's Iraq- and other policies. On the contrary, he is an American liberal who has not been overpowered by the traditional Europhilia so many liberal Americans cherish. In a certain way, the US has become the defining other for Europe: Europe insists to be what America is not. Any kind of negative stereotyping - completely unacceptable when directed against other nations - has become accepted by the European mainstream as long as it is directed against America. Markovits' book makes "the West" look like a naive construction: There is not much left that links the two sides of the Atlantic. Markovits' book could and should make Eruopeans rethink their simplistic negative cliché when it comes to America. Anton Pelinka, Central European University, Budapest

The authoritative work on resurgent anti-Americanism in Europe

With Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America Andrei Markovits, one of the world's most influential political scientists and one of the leading analysts of European politics and transatlantic relations, has produced a major work on the resurging problem of anti-Americanism in Europe. Looking behind the narrowly circumscribed realm of politics, Markovits explores the politics of culture and the culture of politics in which anti-Americanism originated and finds expression. Markovits explores the historical routes, changing functions, and seesaws of anti-Americanism in European history, and the ambivalences in Europe's relationship with the New World. But he primarily addresses current public discourses and presumably "non-political" social and cultural debates since 9/11, incorporating a sophisticated analysis of both media and public opinion data. He thereby provides a differentiated account of distinct left-wing, right-wing and cultural anti-Americanisms and their varying origins. However, he also points out that anti-Americanism, that is the blurred, stereotypical and prejudicial perception of the American nation and its citizens as such, independent from their actual behavior, may well be on the verge of becoming Europe's "lingua franca", turning cultural reservation against "Europe's antonymous Other" into a political tool. As Markovits hypothesizes: Equipped with a mass base "anti-Americanism could, for the first time in its long European history, become a powerful force well beyond those ambivalences, antipathies, and resentments that have continuously shaped the intellectual life of Europe since July 5, 1776." (p.221) At least among significant parts of the elites, the sense of difference is more and more replaced by disdain. Markovits skillfully demonstrates that anti-American misperceptions and hostilities of the "chattering classes" have become increasingly popular, showing that there's clearly more going on, and at stake, than just temporary or specific political opposition to President Bush and his "war against terrorism", or policies in the Middle East. He provides plenty of data, discourse material, and case studies from across Europe (though focusing especially on Great Britain, France and Germany) that indicate a hazardous shift from ambivalence to increasing hostility towards America in the most diverse cultural manifestations - and with political implications. Today, maybe more than ever, cultural anti-Americanism may be utilized in order to serve identity-generating functions for European integration, while simultaneously it is a very convenient - and increasingly often used - instrument to split off and essentialize the perceived negative aspects of post-industrial modernization and globalization, simply by portraying (and personifying) them as intrusive "Americanization". In European discourses, the fear of "Americanization" is explicitly mobilized when there's talk about the commercialization of sports culture, the transf

In-depth and well-written -- a must read!

"Uncouth Nation" is an awesome book. It's the best analysis I've ever read about the phenomenon of European anti-Americanism. As a German, I know what I'm talking about. Andrei S. Markovits, a Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies at the University of Michigan, argues that Europeans hate America not for what it does but for what it is. He cites tons of examples to prove the case for his assumption. If it is about politics, economy, culture, or sports: America and the Americans are often seen as stupid, egoistic, shallow, synthetic, money-mad, rowdyish, and uncouth. More and more Europeans are in fear of something like "Americanization" or "American conditions". For example, when Juergen Klinsmann was committed to coach the German soccer team, many commentators worried about his plans to exercise "American training methods". European anti-Americanism also appears as an antagonism sometimes: Many Europeans bitch about Hollywood movies although they love to watch them. Many people say they hate McDonalds although they love to eat burgers. America can't do it right: Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Markovits shows that anti-Americanism has only little to do with reality, with George W. Bush or the current politics of the U.S. administration. In fact, Anti-Americanism is a biased and stereotyped imagination of America. In this imagination, America is seen as origin of all evil things all over the world. It is equated with capitalism and globalization. But why has anti-Americanism become so successful today? In Europe, it helps to form a European identity. Many Europeans don't have any idea for what a unified Europe could stand for. They only know that it shouldn't be like America. It's sad but true: Anti-Americanism has become a "lingua franca" in Europe today. Markovits' in-depth and well-written book is a must read for everyone who wants to understand that phenomenon.

With or Without Bush, They Still Resent and Dislike Us

This is a great book on an interesting, compelling and timely topic. And though the work is based on scholarship (with lots of footnotes, most of which are well worth reading, too), it is not at all written in that overly intellectual tone and heavy-handed style that scholars so often use. In other words: it's not work to read, it's a very enjoyable read. Markovits highlights the historical background of Euro anti-Americanism, and explains how it has evolved into a universal feature of everyday discourse amongst all Europeans of all class backgrounds (not just, as in the past, elites). The presidency of George W. Bush provides some explanation for the more recent phenomena, but this goes well beyond and much deeper than Bush and is likely to remain long after he's gone. The combination of "ill-will and ignorance" on the part of so many explains why (and how) Europeans can make the most outlandish statements and believe the most far-fetched conspriracy theories regarding Americans. (Now I understand why that pretty young blond woman I met on the train in Germany seemed so incredulous when I answered that I owned only one televison and no firearms!) The author is clearly a man of the political Left, yet he deftly demonstrates how anti-Americanism has come to seriously distort intellectual debate among those who should know better (this could also be applied to the Left in the US, I think), while resentment, rejection and even hatred of the US is now key to the formation of a new "European Identity" (meaning identification with the EU, above and beyond individaul countries). The chapter on anti-semitism (anti-Americanism's "twin") is quite excellent, and likely the book's most controversial. Again, it is the political and cultural Left that comes off looking the worst (since we already expect such ignorance and hatred from the Right). This is a definitive book on the subject that not only provides a useful explication, it also explains why it matters, why we should care. And because this really is a very important issue for both the present and future, I hope to soon see the author discussing this topic on all those news network talk shows. I say: Check it out!