Rebooting the west
Subtitle: the US, Europe and the future of the Western Alliance
By: Christopher Coker
Contributors: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
Series: Whitehall paper -- 72; Whitehall paper series -- 72.
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Abingdon, UK
Language: eng
Number of pages: 107
Subjects: Foreign relations; Military relations; Military policy; World politics; International relations; History
Other titles: U.S., Europe and the future of the Western Alliance; United States, Europe and the future of the Western Alliance
Description: The West is in bad shape. In Afghanistan, it is committed to fighting a war that it probably cannot win. It confronts a resurgent Russia and an ever-rising China-- the latter deemed by many to herald the beginning of a post-American world. It now needs to accommodate itself to the new rising powers on the block, few of whom share its vision of the future. The author's premise is that the West needs to be 're-booted'. It needs new ideas, as well as a new idea of itself. Unless it regrounds itself, it may lose purchase on the imagination not only of the rest of the world, but its own citizens at home. This is far more challenging for Europe than for the United States. America can probably live without the West; Europe probably cannot. This paper sets out to reassure the reader that the world will be a better place if the Western powers can reaffirm the principles that brought them together in the dark days of 1941.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.

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Table of contents: title: What has gone wrong?; title: The importance of ideas; title: The idea of the West; title: Telos; title: Ethos; title: Demos; title: Will the US remain interested in Europe?