The Metrosexual Superpower

[NV1962]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/files/story2583.php

The Metrosexual Superpower

By Parag Khanna
Foreign Policy
July/August 2004

The stylish European Union struts past the bumbling United States on the catwalk of global diplomacy.


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Metrosexuals may spend a long time standing in front of the mirror, but they never shop alone. Stripping off stale national sovereignty (that's so last century), Europeans now parade their “pooled power,” the new look for this geopolitical season. As a political, economic, and military union with some 450 million citizens, a $9 trillion economy, and armies surpassing 1.6 million soldiers, Europe is now a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Indeed, Europe actually contributes more to U.S. foreign policy goals than the U.S. government—and does so far more fashionably. Robert Cooper, one of Britain's former defense gurus now shaping Europe's common foreign policy, argues that Europe's “magnetic allure” compels countries to rewrite their laws and constitutions to meet European standards. The United States conceives of power primarily in military terms, thus confusing presence with influence. By contrast, Europeans understand power as overall leverage. As a result, the EU is the world's largest bilateral aid donor, providing more than twice as much aid to poor countries as the United States, and it is also the largest importer of agricultural goods from the developing world, enhancing its influence in key regions of instability. Through massive deployments of “soft power” (such as economic clout and cultural appeal) Europe has made hard power less necessary. After expanding to 25 members, the EU accounts for nearly half of the world's outward foreign direct investment and exerts greater leverage than the United States over pivotal countries such as Brazil and Russia. As more oil-producing nations consider trading in euros, Europe will gain greater influence in the international marketplace. Even rogue states swoon over Europe's allure; just recall how Libya's Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi greeted British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a recent meeting in Tripoli. “You are looking good,” gushed Libya's strongman. “You are still young.”

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But don't be deceived by the metrosexual superpower's pleatless pants—Europe hasn't lost touch with its hard assets. Even without a centralized military command structure, the EU has recently led military operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Macedonia, and it will increase troop deployments to support German and British forces in stabilizing Afghanistan. European countries already provide 10 times more peacekeepers to U.N. operations than the United States. In late 2004, the EU will take over all peacekeeping and policing operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina from NATO, and Europe's 60,000-troop Rapid Reaction Force will soon be ready to deploy around the world.


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[noahmijo]

1. Anybody catch the metrosexual bits on "Rescue Me" last night?

Pretty funny sort of showed both sides of the coin.

I still can't call myself a metrosexual. For those into it, hey it's your thing but I still prefer just regular jeans and a Yankee or a Harley Davidson shirt.

Or this shirt works well too:

[NV1962]

2. Forgot: registration req'd - use bugmenot.com (n/t)

[tylerdurden74]

3. Foreign Policy is THE BEST Political Mag

Hands Down.
I recently discovered it.

Just fantastic.

[thebigidea]

4. the "metrosexual" label applied to this is stupid & very dated

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.