Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century

Those who believe Europe to be weak and ineffectual are wrong. Turning conventional wisdom on its head Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century sets out a vision for a century in which Europe will dominate, not America. This is the book that will make your mind up about Europe.

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.

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 up 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.

Reviews

‘Mark Leonard deserves to be listened to.’ Independent

'Mark Leonard has done that rare thing; he has reshaped how we look at the world … This is a refreshing, compelling and above all optimistic book that moves the European debate onto wholly new ground. British Eurosceptics beware.'
Will Hutton, author of ‘The State We're In’

‘Mark Leonard’s views are always adventurous and stimulating – and “Why Europe will run the 21st Century” sustains those attributes. It also confirms that, in useful contrast to the unilateralist ‘New American Century’ doctrine of US Republicans, Europe’s contribution to the era will be multilateralist. In the age of increased globalisation and intensified interdependence, that has the strength of common sense.’ Neil Kinnock

About the author

Mark Leonard founded the leading independent think tank The Foreign Policy Centre at the age of 24, under the patronage of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and is now Executive Director of The European Council on Foreign Relations’. When he was only 23, Mark wrote the famous pamphlet, ‘Rebranding Britain’, coining the phrase ‘Cool Britannia’. He has written regular commentary for all the leading newspapers and magazines, has presented the BBC' Analysis programme, and has appeared as a commentator on CNN and on all of Britain's most prestigious news programmes (from Today and Newsnight to the Jimmy Young Programme and Start the Week). Mark was named by the Sunday Times as one of the 500 most influential powerful people in Britain. He is 31 years old.