Product Description

Widening his perspective from country (examined in previous volume, "The State We're In") to world, Will Hutton calls for Britain and Europe to offer alternatives to the American Way. Under President Bush America has been forthright in its isolationism - until the attack on the World Trade Center - but whatever happens next, it is undoubtedly true that Bush will pursue a policy of America first. Hutton argues for a countervailing balance - economically and socially - to the American model. Only, he argues, by making Europe a strong bloc - and that means adopting the euro - will we have the leverage to influence the USA as we would wish, in an attempt to make Europe a safer, more prosperous place.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135274 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Written with typical passion and command of a battery of facts, Will Hutton's The World We're In is a fierce attack on the politics of Euroscepticism and US economic conservatism. Hutton has already established his credentials as one of the leading liberal economic thinkers on the British State with his bestselling The State We're In. In The World We're In he widens his focus to discuss the global economy and the fraught relations between the US and Europe in the aftermath of September 11.

Hutton argues that "if the rest of the world is not careful, our future will be to accept globalisation almost entirely on American conservative terms." He believes that the great tradition of liberalism in the US is in retreat, that "America is the most unequal society in the industrialised West", and that claims regarding its economic supremacy and efficiency have been hugely exaggerated. For Hutton, the future lies with the European Union's more inclusive and liberal approach towards politics and economics.

The book skilfully charts its way through the different historical, economic and philosophical approaches to land, law and profit that have defined the European and American traditions, concluding that Europe offers a better "scope within globalisation for different cultures and approaches to capitalism to flourish." For Hutton, this involves a philosophical belief in the existence of a civic society and a flourishing society, a "decentralised State, consensual labour relations" and a stakeholder ethos that America has always lacked. He admits that this "is a book for the idea of Europe", that also envisages the United Kingdom at the heart of Europe, not Washington. Marshalling an impressive array of economic data alongside an impassioned belief in radical democracy, The World We're In is an important addition to the urgent discussions regarding the world we want. --Jerry Brotton

Review
'A timely & forward-looking book.Hutton's powerful and flawlessly argued assertion is that to opt for dependence upon America is madness' William Sutcliffe, INDEPENDENT ON S. 'Formidable erudition, meticulous analysis and prodigious research. Hutton's great strength is that he is a provocateur and a learned one. The argumentative heft of the book is impressive.this book will get people talking' Stryker Maguire OBSERVER

Financial Times - May 2002
"His first blockbuster - THE STATE WE'RE IN...was timed to perfection...His new book is as exquisitely sited."

Customer Reviews

American neo-Liberalism or European Social Democracy?
The title is a misnomer: it's really about the growing political and ideological divide between the USA and the EU, with a much useful debunking of right wing myths (including Third Way ones). Hutton's central argument is that Europe's post-war 'social democratic' consensus has produced a model of capitalism distinct from that of the US, and that Britain must finally choose. This is vintage Hutton, combining serious research, theoretically informed argument and an acute journalistic sense of timing and relevance. Worth having on your shelf for the bibliography alone. You may not agree with everything he says, but then that's the whole point!

The World We're In
This is an impressive book. Anyone interested in understanding, among other things, how and why the US has come under near complete corporate control during the last thirty years should read Hutton's analysis. It's first rate both in its depth and breath: social, cultural, political, financial and economic. As an American, I am very impressed by how well Hutton understands what's going on here. His view is more lucid - and more clearly and passionately presented - than just about anything I've seen by American writers. And I do hope UK readers will heed his advice to move British politics and culture away from US domination.

Useful and Timely
Cannot fault Will Hutton for ambition. His analysis is detailed and wide ranging. He cannot just be dismissed as Anti-American as he elucidates many times his admiration for much of US economic and technological achievement.

Clearly, this book will be hated by the right, and anyone in the US or UK who supports the neo-liberal "washington consensus".

His description of the political/economic processes that have driven the washington consensus over the last 30 years is excellent, and much of his material uses US sources.

Hutton does not hide his disdain for neo-liberal economics, or the "chicago school", and he raises questions about the prevailing orthodoxy and ideology of the concensus that drives most international financial institutions. But his personal position is made open and clear, and the purpose of the book is to drive forward debate in europe and particularly the UK. In this the book succeeds.

His contention, backed by prodigious evidence, is that the UK national interest is more aligned with europe than with the US, and future economic and political developments are likely to make it increasingly necessary for the UK to understand that its culture and history is tied to europe, and the "idea of europe".

Hutton's description of the historical and cultural roots of europe's "social contract" is thought provoking, and even historians will find this interesting and informative. He shows how the UK is far closer to this conception politically and culturally than the prevailing consensus now driving political economy in the US.

There is much to think about in this book. It is well worth reading as much for its accessible style as for the importance of its subject matter.