We should see Europe, then, as having been at the vanguard of one of humankind's most essential tasks. The whole human species -- the descendants of all of us -- have an immense stake in whether the Europeans succeed in showing how nations can move toward that better-ordered world our descendants likely need for us to create.
To the extent that the Europeans fail, humankind as a whole will have to find some better way to blaze the trail; to the extent they succeed, they provide a map that might guide our progress to meet the challenges on the larger scale.
In many ways, the European effort has been an enormous success. In any ranking of "the most decent societies" since civilization first arose millennia ago, the nations of Western Europe, over these past two or three generations, would rank at the very top. In the nations that have been engaged in the unification of Europe, hundreds of millions of people have able to live lives in peace and prosperity and freedom.
But the British vote to leave the EU (which is the present culmination of generations of European effort to create that better order) -- combined with strong similar anti-EU sentiment in several other member nations on the continent -- give a clear indication that Europe's efforts have also gone awry.
Could so much negative feeling toward the EU exist if all were being done right?
The key question of the moment is, therefore: Will the powers in the EU work honestly to identify and correct the missteps they have made?
In a column published in The New York Times the week before the Brexit vote, Paul Krugman declared that, if he were British, he would vote Remain, but with mixed feelings because of his "full awareness that the E.U. is deeply dysfunctional and shows few signs of reforming." "The most frustrating thing about the E.U.," Krugman says, is that "nobody ever seems to acknowledge or learn from mistakes."
And perhaps that's a good place for the EU to start. And, though there are other problematic aspects of the EU to examine, perhaps the inquiry into this "most frustrating thing" could begin with the example of the counter-productive policy of "austerity."
Two questions about the EU's austerity policy need answers: 1) How did an idea like austerity -- the idea of imposing contractionary policies at a time of severe economic downturn, an idea that doesn't pass the Econ 101 test -- ever get adopted (both by the EU in the euro area and by the Cameron government in the UK)? And 2) Why is it that the EU held unwaveringly to that disastrous policy, even as the evidence of its wrong-headedness piled up, and as Krugman and other excellent economists made crystal clear the case against it?
(People point rightly to the issue of immigration in the Brexit vote, but history teaches us that it is at times of economic pain that people are most prone to xenophobia, and the misguided austerity policies inflicted plenty enough economic pain on the less privileged in the UK to account for Brexit's 4% margin of victory.)
Building a whole order of civilized societies is a challenge that will take every bit of creativity and intelligence and wisdom that people can muster. How do we create a system that is ordered enough to prevent war, give people a sufficient say in charting their destiny, provide a comfortable life for people, protect the integrity of the biosphere, and give peoples the latitude to express their unique cultural/national identities?
Charting a path to such a destination is a challenge so daunting that the ability to spot wrong choices early and make mid-course corrections will be essential.
The Brexit vote has brought the Europe-scaled version of this civilization-wide challenge to such a fork in the road. From the present juncture, the EU can continue to break down because of its errors and its inability to learn and change. Or, it can revive itself by showing a readiness to reform that, as Krugman says, has so far not been visible.
It would be welcome news for all of us on this planet if the powers of the EU were to say, soon, before other nations (like the French or Dutch) might hold referenda of their own: "We understand that mistakes need correcting and improvements must be made. We are determined to identify and make those changes as quickly and wisely as we can."
The books by Andrew Bard Schmookler include The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution.
.
To the extent that the Europeans fail, humankind as a whole will have to find some better way to blaze the trail; to the extent they succeed, they provide a map that might guide our progress to meet the challenges on the larger scale.
In many ways, the European effort has been an enormous success. In any ranking of "the most decent societies" since civilization first arose millennia ago, the nations of Western Europe, over these past two or three generations, would rank at the very top. In the nations that have been engaged in the unification of Europe, hundreds of millions of people have able to live lives in peace and prosperity and freedom.
But the British vote to leave the EU (which is the present culmination of generations of European effort to create that better order) -- combined with strong similar anti-EU sentiment in several other member nations on the continent -- give a clear indication that Europe's efforts have also gone awry.
The key question of the moment is, therefore: Will the powers in the EU work honestly to identify and correct the missteps they have made?
In a column published in The New York Times the week before the Brexit vote, Paul Krugman declared that, if he were British, he would vote Remain, but with mixed feelings because of his "full awareness that the E.U. is deeply dysfunctional and shows few signs of reforming." "The most frustrating thing about the E.U.," Krugman says, is that "nobody ever seems to acknowledge or learn from mistakes."
And perhaps that's a good place for the EU to start. And, though there are other problematic aspects of the EU to examine, perhaps the inquiry into this "most frustrating thing" could begin with the example of the counter-productive policy of "austerity."
Two questions about the EU's austerity policy need answers: 1) How did an idea like austerity -- the idea of imposing contractionary policies at a time of severe economic downturn, an idea that doesn't pass the Econ 101 test -- ever get adopted (both by the EU in the euro area and by the Cameron government in the UK)? And 2) Why is it that the EU held unwaveringly to that disastrous policy, even as the evidence of its wrong-headedness piled up, and as Krugman and other excellent economists made crystal clear the case against it?
(People point rightly to the issue of immigration in the Brexit vote, but history teaches us that it is at times of economic pain that people are most prone to xenophobia, and the misguided austerity policies inflicted plenty enough economic pain on the less privileged in the UK to account for Brexit's 4% margin of victory.)
Building a whole order of civilized societies is a challenge that will take every bit of creativity and intelligence and wisdom that people can muster. How do we create a system that is ordered enough to prevent war, give people a sufficient say in charting their destiny, provide a comfortable life for people, protect the integrity of the biosphere, and give peoples the latitude to express their unique cultural/national identities?
Charting a path to such a destination is a challenge so daunting that the ability to spot wrong choices early and make mid-course corrections will be essential.
The Brexit vote has brought the Europe-scaled version of this civilization-wide challenge to such a fork in the road. From the present juncture, the EU can continue to break down because of its errors and its inability to learn and change. Or, it can revive itself by showing a readiness to reform that, as Krugman says, has so far not been visible.
It would be welcome news for all of us on this planet if the powers of the EU were to say, soon, before other nations (like the French or Dutch) might hold referenda of their own: "We understand that mistakes need correcting and improvements must be made. We are determined to identify and make those changes as quickly and wisely as we can."
The books by Andrew Bard Schmookler include The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution.
.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
