Abstract
As man and woman ‘are supposed to be different’, one being from Mars and the other from Venus as Gray put it, so it is important to recognize that Europe and the United States are supposed to be different. While there are many connectors between the two, these are not sufficient to bridge the gap that has developed between them. Kagan argues that Europe is weak — that because it lacks force (what he calls power) it comes with the arguments and rhetoric of the weak. Yet reading Kagan's argument more closely, one finds that it is not one of power, but of force. This article takes issue with this understanding of power, and attempts to clarify the language on power and force.
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Notes
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 4th ECPR General Conference, Pisa, Italy, 6–8 September 2007.
I refer here to his article ‘Power and Weakness’, which he expanded upon in his book Of Paradise and Power (2003).
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Jones, C. Seduce Me: Kagan, Power, the US and Europe. Int Polit 45, 266–275 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2008.3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2008.3