| | | | Christopher Caldwell on the Situation in Europe Dear Friends,
The Foundation for Constitutional Government is pleased to announce the release of a conversation with Christopher Caldwell on Conversations with Bill Kristol. Chapter descriptions are attached (click on the images below to view each chapter).
A Senior Editor at The Weekly Standard, Christopher Caldwell is one of America's leading journalists and most thoughtful commentators on Europe. In this Conversation, Caldwell reflects on the difficult situation in Europe today, highlighting what he calls its "demographic, economic, and military weakness." Caldwell points to demographic decline, stagnant economies, the migrant crisis, the failure to integrate immigrants, and the rise of Islamism as major challenges facing the continent. Finally, Caldwell and Kristol analyze the populist movements and parties in Britain and various European countries and consider how they might shape Europe's future.
To view the other Conversations that have been previously posted, click here.
This Conversation and all previous releases are also available as audio podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher.
Best,
Andy Zwick
Executive Director |
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| Below are excerpts from the Conversation: |
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On the Rise of Islam in Europe CALDWELL: Islam is a near neighbor [of Europe]. To some extent Europe has a globalized immigrant pool, as we do, but the preponderance of their immigration is from countries in the near abroad. Immigration [will be from] growing countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and increasingly Sub-Saharan Africa. Islam is going to take up a larger and larger weight in [Europe].
A lot of people say Islam is the second most important religion in France. No. It's the most important religion in France. It may not be the religion with which people most associate their ancestry, but it's the religion that motivates the most people in a big way. That has to have a [major] effect on the culture…. I think people who sense that are right. |
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On the Migrant Crisis, Brexit, and Europe CALDWELL: The one issue in Brexit that kept coming up was migration. People who argued that Britain should remain in the European Union said, look, Britain being in the European Union is not causing it to take in a lot of these refugees—most of these people aren't coming to Britain, which was true. But people just felt it. People feel that they were not in control of their borders. That was indeed decisive for Brexit.
[Brexit] was a breach in the wall of inevitability that was constructed around the European Union [and in that sense] it's hugely important. I'm not sure Trump would have happened without Brexit. It gave people a sense of possibilities. One of the things that utopians, such as the builders of the European Union, most need to do is to extinguish the sense that there are alternatives. They had very successfully done [this] for many years. So Brexit has had an extraordinary psychological impact. |
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On Populism and Democracy CALDWELL: There have been attempts over the last 70 years to insulate parts of our government and parts of our society from democracy. I think that the European Union is an example par excellence. To some extent, that move was vindicated; there are a lot of rights for people who didn't have them before. But you wind up with a lot of problems when you have a less democratic system of rule. When the people don't get to pound their fists on the table, they don't get as much.
So people want sovereignty back. They want a little bit of the claim to rule their own lives that they had when they were members of trade unions, and consulted on things, like in the 1960s. In the 1960s, twenty percent of members of the French National Assembly were working class. Now, it's one percent. |
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About Conversations with Bill Kristol. Conversations with Bill Kristol is an online interview program hosted by Weekly Standard editor at large Bill Kristol and produced by The Foundation for Constitutional Government. A forum for substantive, thought-provoking dialogue on pressing issues in the news and American politics, Conversations segments feature informal discussions between Kristol and guests on a diverse array of issues of public concern—from the American presidency and the Middle East peace process to the ideas that have shaped Western civilization. Recent guests include former world chess champion and human rights activist Garry Kasparov, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, business founder Peter Thiel, best-selling author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, former commander in Iraq and Afghanistan General David Petraeus, former U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Jack Keane, and Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield. New conversations are released bi-weekly. Users can access Conversations at www.conversationswithbillkristol.org to watch all conversations free-of-charge, read guest biographies, download podcasts and transcripts, and view additional footage. About the Foundation for Constitutional Government. The Foundation for Constitutional Government is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization devoted to supporting the serious study of politics and political philosophy, with particular attention to the Constitutional character of American government. The Foundation's online programming includes Conversations with Bill Kristol, Great Thinkers, a comprehensive site devoted to political philosophers such as John Locke and Alexis de Tocqueville, as well as websites devoted to important Contemporary Thinkers such as Harvey Mansfield, Irving Kristol, and James Q. Wilson. Media contact: Andy Zwick 917-423-1422 AZwick@constitutionalgovt.org |
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