Book
Why Europe will run the 21st century
ISBN: 0-00-719531-1. Buy it on Amazon.co.uk
Those who believe Europe is weak and ineffectual are wrong. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Mark Leonard, one of the UK's most visionary thinkers, argues that Europe is remaking the world in its own image through its unique 'transformative power'.
Europe only looks dead because it is seen through American eyes. But America's reach is shallow and narrow. It can bribe, bully or impose its will anywhere in the world, but when its back is turned its potency wanes. Europe's reach is broad and deep, spreading its values from Albania to Zambia. It brings other countries into its orbit rather than defining itself against them, and once countries come under the influence of its laws and customs they are changed for ever.
This book sets us a challenge: to regard Europe not as a tangle of bureaucracy and regulation, but as a revolutionary model for the future. We cannot afford to forget that Europe was founded to protect us against war and that it is now key to the spread of democracy. Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century addresses Europe's place in the world, looks to the past and the future and argues, provocatively, that it can and will shape a new and better world order.
the most provocative and thoughtful book to celebrate the EU…points are strong and the pungent style reinforces them
Stanley Hoffmann writing in Foreign Affairs [Full review]
Not many books about the EU are fun to read. This one is; and more than that, it tells the story better than any other
Robert Cooper, writing in the Sunday Times [Full review]
Mark Leonard belongs to the counter-intuitive camp. He rightly argues that the EU has been novel and highly successful
Martin Jacques writing in the Guardian [Full review]
there is much to hearten the Europhile in Leonard's extremely articulate and very well-argued book
Turi Munthe writing in Rusi Journal [Full review]
a lively and incisive reply to Kagan; it is a view of the contemporary and future world order from Venus
Brigid Laffan writing in the Irish Times [Full review]
A plusieurs égards, ce livre est une publication de circonstance.
Paul Fabre writing in Les Echos [Full review]
sharp, short but highly cogent
Jonathan Power writing in the Statesman (India) [Full review]
the template for a new world order made of multiple regional powers
Marie Valla writing in Newsweek [Full review]
This book is an excellent, lucid read for anyone interested in the facts about Europe's true place in the world.
Adrian Weckler writing in the Sunday Business Post [Full review]
Fluid and original, this is an important and enjoyable book for anyone who cares about the future of Europe.
Robert Kagan, author of Paradise & Power
Mark Leonard is one of the bright young thinkers on foreign policy…..a provocative challenge to eurosceptics
Joseph Nye, author "Soft Power: the means to success in World Politics"
Mark Leonard has done that rare thing; he has reshaped how we look at the world.
Will Hutton, author of The State We're In
Leonard is right to highlight the rise of regionalism as the most credible challenge to the US.
Heather Stewart, The Observer [Full review]
Mark Leonard is a voice to be reckoned with
John Kampfner writing in The New Statesman [Full review]
Mr Leonard is right to point to the stunning success of the EU in democratising and liberalising its near neighbours
The Economist [Full review]
Mark Leonard deserves to be listened to
Hamish McRae writing in The Independent [Full review]
Leonard is right to hold up Europe as an ideal society.
Review from Bloomberg [Full review]
Leonard singt einen Hymnus auf das Genie Europas
Review in Profil Magazin [Full review]
Voilà qui réveillera, on l'espère, tous ceux qui ne peuvent réprimer un bâillement dès que l'on prononce le mot Europe
Jean Daniel writing Le Nouvel Observateur [Full review]
Mark Leonard's views are always adventurous and stimulating.
Neil Kinnock