quarta-feira, novembro 10, 2004
And Europe Thinks The U.S. Is A Mess?
Artigo na Bussiness Week.
Europeans have been transfixed these past frenzied weeks by the U.S. Presidential campaign. Given the blanket coverage from Helsinki to Lisbon, it's almost as if the 2004 Presidential elections were also being held across the European Union (where, according to polls, Senator John Kerry would be savoring a landslide victory over President George W. Bush by now). Through it all, many Europeans have looked at the strangeness of the American political process -- from the billions of campaign dollars spent and the influence of privately financed partisan groups such as MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to the tens of thousands of lawyers put on alert to challenge poll results -- and are wondering whether American democracy will emerge unscathed from the ordeal.
It's not the American body politic Europeans ought to be worrying about but their own. U.S. democracy has weathered many a crisis. Europe, in contrast, is still trying to justify the existence of the European Union -- and to prove its value and viability as a democratic, political construct. Yes, the U.S. is split into red and blue states. But the EU is more polarized than ever over key issues affecting its future, from admitting Turkey as a member to adopting a constitution that would vastly expand Brussels' power to set policies in economics, immigration, and judicial cooperation. The rifts are such that integration now risks becoming gridlocked. Worse, some worry that the EU itself could splinter eventually.
posted by Miguel Noronha 2:30 da tarde
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