Linkagogo Archive 1: Foreign Policy

Stephen Hill Linkography: Features

Book Review of Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age
Book review: Posted 31 January 2010 on Folkpolitics by the Liberal Arts Dude. (Provides an excellent overview of Europe's Promise.)The reviewer found Hill's book fascinating and recommended that it deserves to be read widely in the United States. More specifically, he suggested that American public policy makers, politicians, pundits, and those who have power to craft public opinion and policy should read it and take a long hard look at American institutions, economic practices, policy-making, etc. and ask themselves –"Are we doing the best job that we can do and getting the results we intended?"

Europe's Promise by Steven Hill
Book review: Posted 10 April 2010 - Will blog for food by John. An excellent book review! So don’t be put off by the blog’s title or the length of the review. John’s style of writing and knowledge of the subject makes this a fascinating read. He agrees with Hill’s assessment of the current situation and goes on to make a number of thought provoking comparisons between the policies of U.S. and European governments (Norway in particular).

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Globalization

Next Steps For Social Democracy: An American Perspective
Article: 16 December 2009 - Social Europe Journal. This article was published as part of the "Building the Good Society" debate hosted by Social Europe Journal. In Hill's opinion, the predicament of social democracy strikes at the heart of several modern dilemmas that will be at the forefront of the twenty-first century. Given the many obstacles and challenges presented by globalisation, global warming and geopolitical shifts, he believes that social democrats have made remarkable gains and are providing a beacon to the rest of the world.

Steven Hill on Europe’s Promise
Video: Book talk: 21 January 2010 - held at the New America Foundation. Also posted with title: What the U.S. (Even California) Can Learn from Europe
The author discusses his new book and explains Europe's bold new vision. For a decade Hill travelled widely to understand this uniquely European way of life. He shatters myths and describes how Europe's leadership is rooted in different economic, social and cultural values. Hill points out that the European model has the greatest potential to nudge the world forward.

San Francisco Mayoral Race Mobilizes Opposition
to Globalization
Article: 2000 - Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. San Francisco, a busy commercial and Internet center riding the crest of nearby Silicon Valley, is the poster city for the globalized economy. Local startups, IPOs and surging stock prices are the latest embodiment of the American Dream, dangling the bait before a wide-eyed generation. Interestingly enough, this electoral challenge came less than two weeks after thousands of protesters in Seattle delivered a shot across the bow of the WTO and its cruise ship, the USS Globalization.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Europe Ponders

Trial By Fire: Populist Party Makes Gains In Vienna's Municipal Elections; The Challenge Of Rainbow Europe

Blog: How's Europe Doing - posted 13 October 2010 - The Washington Monthly. Hill observed the municipal elections, and the populist, anti-immigrant Freedom Party (FPO) nearly doubled its vote total from the last election to 27 percent. The long-time governing Social Democrats (SPO) finished with 45 percent forcing them into a coalition government for the first time since the 1990s. However, the Freedom Party’s 27 percent of the vote will be overwhelmingly outvoted by whatever majority coalition emerges, headed by the Social Democrats, so none of their proposed policies will come to pass.

Who's Right Now? Europe's far-right resurgence fizzles out
Article: 1 February 2003 - The American Prospect. The idea of European society as a "melting pot" or "rainbow quilt" is alien and new, and undoubtedly there will be strains for some time to come. But for the American media and punditry -- right, left and mainstream -- to portray the situation as one in which Nazis and fascists are gaining a real foothold in Europe is erroneous and hyperbolic.

The Prime Ministers Weigh In; What Is The Proper Role and Social Function Of A Bank?
Blog: How's Europe Doing - posted 30 September 2010 - The Washington Monthly. Panel discussion in Budapest entitled: Rebuilding confidence in financial markets: financial regulations, budgetary discipline, monetary stability.

The heart of Hill's speech concerned values-based banking and finance and dealt with the question of 'What are the right values for a banking and financial system?' He explored how banks and the financial industry could be turned away from the casinos they have become and made into responsible institutions.

The Plight Of The Roma Minority: Signs Of Hope Amidst This Challenge To Rainbow Europe
Blog: How's Europe Doing - posted 14 October 2010 - The Washington Monthly. Hill had a fascinating interview with Professor Rudolf Sarkozi, a recognized and sought-out European leader of the Roma, who gave his frank opinions on the persecution of the Roma, the recent French president Sarkozy’s policy of Roma expulsion from France, the general treatment of ethnic minorities in Europe and Austria, relations with other minorities such as the Turkish Muslim minority in Vienna, and more.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Europe's Way

Closing the ‘Democracy Deficit’ in the EU and US
Article: 17 June 2010 - Social Europe Journal. In Switzerland, the political leaders have crafted an impressive practice that fosters a "noisy collaboration" between the people and their elected representatives. They have a "proposal-counterproposal" system in which, once an initiative or referendum qualifies for the ballot, the government is given a chance to either pass that law itself or put a counterproposal on the ballot.

Myth 5: Europe is a Socialist Nest of Government Interference and Intervention.
Posted 14 March 2010 - Washington Policy Watch . Europe is completely capitalist, not socialist, with more Fortune 500 companies and more small businesses than in the U.S. But Europe has figured out how to harness capitalism’s tremendous wealth-creating capacity so that its prosperity is broadly shared.

Inspiration Across the Pond
Article: 29 March 2010 - E’Sharp. Europe ploughs its money into its people rather than into excessive corporate profits, CEO bonuses or a bloated military. In the US, about the only people who enjoy the full range of European-level supports are those who work for wealthy corporations or the president and members of Congress. What is good for US political and economic elites apparently is not enjoyed by their fellow Americans. The drawbridge has been pulled up.

There's No Place Like Europe: Steven Hill on Medical House Calls, Multiparty Politics, and Other American Fantasies

Interview: Monday 18 October 2010 - by Alissa Bohling for Truthout.
During this lengthy interview Hill touched on the kind of support Europeans have that Americans don't have. He gave this example: "An American friend of mine living in France got a hornet sting when I was visiting her. She calls up her doctor and, 20 minutes later, there's the French doctor with his little black bag. What does that feel like to a person, to know that you have that kind of access to the support that you need?"

The World Cup of Global Competition
Article: July 1998 - Hartford Web Publishing: World History Archives. Steven Hill was in Paris, during the 1998 World Cup of soccer hosted in France. Watching Europeans of numerous nationalities patriotically cheering their home teams, he reflected on the remaining barriers to the European Union. Some Europeans are looking westward toward the American model, marked by low unemployment of 4-5%, market and labor flexibility, low deficits and increased worker productivity. However, important distinctions should be noted.

Ancient Transportations: Walking and Bicycling
to Health
Blog: How's Europe Doing – posted 28 Oct 2010 - The Washington Monthly.

Europeans seem to be literally biking and walking their way to health, and research bears this out. One study found that whereas walking and cycling account for less than a tenth of all urban trips in American cities, they account for a third of all such trips in Germany and an incredible half in the Netherlands. This activity not only provides the Dutch and German elderly with valuable physical exercise, but it also assures them a level of mobility and independence that greatly enhances their quality of life.

Time for a Tex-Mex Marshall Plan
Article: 23 April 2006 – Washington Post. The bold yet carefully planned E.U. approach to worker migration suggests the direction that policy between the United States and Mexico should take. The EU gave its new poorer states massive subsidies -- billions of dollars' worth -- to help construct schools, roads, telecommunications and housing, thus making these nations more attractive for business investment. The idea was to raise up the emerging economies rather than let the advanced economies be dragged down.

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