How can America and Europe regain strength and prosperity and prevent another Great War? After two centuries of ascent the United States finds itself in economic decline. Some advise America to cure its woes alone. But the road to isolation leads inevitably to the end of U.S. leadership in the international system warns Richard Rosecrance in this bold and novel book. Instead Rosecrance calls for the United States to join forces with the European Union and create a transatlantic economic union. Such a U.S.-Europe community would unblock arteries of trade and investment rejuvenate the West and enable Western countries to deal with East Asian challenges from a position of unity and economic strength. Exploring the possibilities for such a merger the author writes "The European Union offers a means of creating larger units without recourse to force. A connection between Europe and North America could eventually grow into an agglomeration of states drawing China and the East into a new network of countries. In this way East will eventually join the West." Through this great merger the author offers a positive vision of the future in which members of a tightly knit Western alliance regain economic health and attract Eastern nations to join a new and worldwide international order. “[Rosecrance’s] main insight is. . . compelling: the ‘new West' needs to be big, unified and growing.”―John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs -- John Ikenberry ― Foreign Affairs How can America and Europe regain their economic standing when economic power is rapidly shifting to the East? An esteemed scholar of international relations offers a bold and visionary solution: a transatlantic economic union, whose consequences will have worldwide benefit for the entire international system. Richard Rosecrance is senior fellow, adjunct professor, and director of the U.S.-China Relations Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is also Distinguished Research Professor, UCLA. He lives in Lexington, MA. The Resurgence of the West How a Transatlantic Union Can Prevent War and Restore the United States and Europe By RICHARD ROSECRANCE Yale UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2013 Richard N. Rosecrance All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-300-17739-8 Contents Introduction...............................................................1ONE The Size of States....................................................8TWO The Rise of the East..................................................26THREE The Decline and Resurgence of the West..............................47FOUR The Unification of the United States and the Integration of the West.......................................................................85FIVE The Trauma of Power Transition.......................................93SIX Market Clusters Augment Size..........................................111SEVEN The Problem of China................................................134EIGHT Alternatives........................................................152NINE How the West Attracts China and the World............................164Notes......................................................................177Acknowledgments............................................................191Index......................................................................193 Excerpt CHAPTER 1 The Size of States The demand for economic and political size among states haschanged over time, but not always in the same direction: theideal size of a state has gone up and down and then up again.In the classical period from roughly 2000 B.C. to 1000 A.D.,traditional monarchies and empires sought larger size. Fivehundred years later, trading cities like Venice, Genoa, and thenAmsterdam were content to be small so long as they could getspices, salt, and sugar from the East and West Indies. Theneverything changed: first, large powers like France and Austriaintroduced gunpowder weapons, threatening the existence ofsmaller units; second, a mercantilist fascination with gold ledcountries like England to push exports and diminish imports,punishing those smaller entities like the Dutch, who favoredopen trade. What influences size is the openness of international commerce.Large size wins out when international trade is restrictedand, more recently, when capital flows dwarf thewealth of individual economies. As to the first, even a successfultrading country may be forced to get larger if it nolonger can export to markets overseas. Facing restrictions onits trade, it has to sell to its own population. Such countriesneed larger territories (with resources and people to match)to sustain their positions. Military factors may also make largeterritorial scale important, as offensive weapons begin to leapover fortifications or river barriers that previously protectedsmall nations. Today, countries also seek larger size if theyar