ABSTRACT
The position of the USA in world politics is today quite ambiguous. The only
superpower and arbiter of matters of war and peace around the globe, the
country commands a position sometimes compared to that of the Romans at
the height of their pre-eminence. On the other hand, American troops have
been quite unable to stabilise Iraq – evoking memories of Vietnam where a
peasant army defeated a nuclear power – and they have had little success on
North Korea, Iran, or in catching Osama Bin Laden. For all its power, the
USA seems oddly impotent. Something close to the opposite could be said about the European Union. The EU is invariably derided for its ‘weakness’
and for the ‘endless squabbles’ of its members. A political entity without a
foreign policy and an army, it has, time and again, shown itself inept at
dealing with the crises that land on its own doorsteps. And yet it is in many
ways remarkable how much the Europeans have achieved. From being a
continent constantly torn by wars, Europe has become a zone of peace. These
are economically successful, decent societies, and, despite their interminable
quarrels, they have reached agreement on difficult-to-agree-on issues such as a common currency and an ever-expanding body of Europe-wide legislation.
Cross-national civil-society groups have often been misjudged in a similar
way. Anti-globalisation protesters may be angry, vocal and, in some cases,
armed, but they are also few in numbers, socially marginalised and their
messages are far from coherent. Showing up at meetings of world leaders,
they seem to make more enemies than friends and are subsequently quickly
dismissed as utterly powerless. Yet they clearly do have a measure of influ-
ence. Their mere existence points to the possibility of there being alternative solutions to world problems and, as such, they are guaranteed a place both
on the evening news and in academic discussions (see, however, Lipschutz, in
this volume).
