The Obama Moment. European and American Perspectives

12
Introduction
stood, beyond its own merits, as a new vision of international relations based on
an awareness in Europe and the United States, and indeed in many other parts of
the world, of the realities and consequences of globalisation and the concomitant
emergence of an international civil society.
The French philosopher Edgar Morin has developed the concept of world patriotism:
in his words, we need to assume that we are all citizens of ‘la Terre-Patrie’. 1 It
is only natural that the rise of a world consciousness should indeed be more clearly
linked to issues readily perceived as affecting the whole of mankind, like nuclear
proliferation and climate change. Both of these issues are of major concern to President
Obama, reflecting his vision of a common humanity which of course marks a
radical shift from the neo-conservatives’ belief in America’s hegemony. In his first
UN speech President Obama quoted Roosevelt, who declared in 1949 that ‘we have
learned … to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.’ This
is certainly much more the case today when globalisation and an unprecedented
level of interdependence, not war, has brought the world together. Globalisation
has brought about not only greater economic interdependence, but also security
interdependence; global challenges know no borders, and regional challenges increasingly
transcend national boundaries; what happens inside the borders of one
state is scrutinised by international public opinion. This is why it makes sense to
speak of interdependent security. In his chapter in this volume, Bruce Jones stresses
the fact that a sense of interpendent security lies at the heart of Obama’s vision of
foreign policy. 2
The world today is dominated by two trends: one of increasing interdependence and
a rising world polity that erodes state borders, and one of increasingly assertive aspiring
world powers, whose rise is challenging the sense of sovereignty innate to the
traditional big powers that shape multipolarity. The first calls for a universal system
of multilateral governance; the second, while not necessarily impeding it, may just
as well make it an impractical goal. The resulting tension is the most salient feature
of the present international system. The grand EU bet is that the inherent contradiction
can be solved by creating international rules and norms that reflect the will
of international civil society and at the same time create the conditions for a stable
and peaceful relationship among the big powers. Europe’s strong disagreements
with the Bush administration owed much to its pursuit of power politics in the tra-
1. Interview with Edgar Morin, « Porto Alegre, ‘l’internationale en gestation’. Pour Edgar Morin, Davos et Porto
Alegre incarnent les deux visages de la mondialisation, inséparables et antagonistes », by Vittorio de Filippis, Libération,
5 February 2001
2. Bruce Jones, chapter on ‘The coming clash: Europe and US multilateralism under Obama’ in this volume, pp. 63-
77.