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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 3, 1984
PAGE 11
approach carried America through the nineteenth century, with
only an occasional flash of overseas adventure such as the war on
the Barbary pirates and Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan.
The other, putting-the-world-to-rights, approach came to the top
at the turn of the century •••and eventually took America into the
first world war. But then followed an angry return to isola
tionism. It is only since Tojo's Japan pushed them into saving
Europe from Hitler's Germany that the Americans have more than
briefly overcome their distaste for entangling alliances; and
that period, let Europe note, covers only a fifth of their
history.
The point is that both these American ways of dealing with the
world are based on moral attitudes. The keep-out way declares
that the world is too messy to be bothered with. The plunge-in
way asserts that America can make the world a better place. This
moralism is at odds with the European approach to international
relations. Because they have for centuries lived cheek by jowl
on the same continent, the Europeans believe that they cannot
afford either to ignore each other, or to try to change each
other very much. Each country has its own interests, say the
Eur0peans.
The business of foreign policy is to keep these
interests compatible. The skills needed are accommodation, ad
justment, compromise. From this comes the theory of the balance
of power....
The Europeans' approach is cooler, the Americans' is warmer
blooded••.• The American instinct is to believe that every
problem must have its solution.
The European instinct is to
think, too often, that the best solution is to fudge the problem.
So accusations of recklessness fly one way, of feebleness the
other••••
What lessons does this have for Europeans? First, that a picture
of the Useless European is taking shape in the American mind••••
Europe should realize that the indignation is there.... Most
Europeans have not yet realized what is happening on the other
side. Second, it is unlikely that the American reaction to the
Useless European will be simply to abandon him. The fact that
the world is now a two-superpower place, and America passionately
dislikes the other superpower, makes a return to the old isola
tionism almost impossible. The likelier response will be just to
pu � h Europe another notch downwards in America's order of
priorities, below the Pacific basin, southwest Asia and--if
things go wrong in Central America--Mexico. The Americans will
continue to look after their European interests but, as it were,
over Europe's head.
This unilateralism will not be fun for
Europe.
The Shift Toward the Orient
The point made by THE ECONOMIST about America downgrading Europe in its
list of foreign concerns was expanded upon by Frank Viviano, an editor of
the San Francisco-based PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE. He wrote the following in
the December 26, 1983 LOS ANGELES TIMES:
The fierce controversies over missile deployment and other issues
may leave us remembering 1983 as the year in which ordinary