BOOK OF THE MONTH
The World We're In
by Will Hutton
0316858714 (Little, Brown)
Reviewer: Joe Harvey, Bibliographer — Lindsay and Croft
Will Hutton, former editor of the 'Observer' and author of the best selling 'The State We're In', now drops another explosive politico-economic tract into the market place. 'The World We're In' focuses on the relationship between the US and Europe post September 11th, a relationship he sees as "the fulcrum on which the world order" now turns.
Wide-ranging analysis
Through a wide-ranging analysis of cultural, political and economic trends, Hutton argues that Britain's role now unquestionably lies with Europe and a European Union that needs to counterbalance America's dominance on the world stage. Britain, argues Hutton, has followed US policy without question for too long and needs to reassess its "special relationship" with them. It desperately needs to reassert political and economic values inherent in its European heritage, from a public service media, public transport and a national health service, to business values that recognise the importance of a "social contract". Hutton draws on the economic success of Nokia, Michelin, Volkswagen and most notably Airbus, as examples of how the US economic model of shareholders dictating policy and "short term profitability" rule, is not the only economic model that works.
Anticipating the single currency referendum in Britain, "The World We're In" is Hutton's unashamedly pro-European stance on the need for Britain to adopt the Euro, reasoning that the form of democracy at the heart of Britain is in its essence European, and has been damaged by US dominance over the last 50 years.
Shaky edifice
Though drawing criticism for "Anti-Americanism" from notables such as Geoffrey Owen and Chris Patten amongst others, Hutton defends 'The World We're In' as a book that rather than being anti-American in its ethos is in fact an attempt to check Britain's ties with the rise of American conservatism that has not only silenced liberal America but has challenged the values of a "European Civic Society". From its distrust of organised labour, to its belief that welfare, rather than a social right, is a cause of poverty, the American far right is directly at odds with the things that bind British and European society together. Hutton examines such things as the history of American property rights to the ramifications of the Enron scandal, to the US's flexible labour markets in an attempt to argue that Europe, though not blind to the positive aspects of American society, needs to define itself on different economic terms. Indeed, Hutton views the boom of the US economy as a "shaky edifice" that Britain and Europe alike follow blindly at their own peril.
With the burst of the dot.com bubble, 'The World We're In' seizes on the opportunity to argue for a Britain and Europe that hold onto their belief in the "social contract" which should not be discarded in favour of a "common sense" rooted in Washington and corporate America.
'The World We're In' is a key text for all readers interested in globalisation, world politics, economics and the future of the European Union. "The arguments," he asserts, "need to be opened up."
