Russia in Contemporary Global Politics

by Valeri Mikhailenko

Under Mars and Venus. Robert Kagan, an American political guru, in his recent bestseller compared the USA and Europe with Mars and Venus respectively. In Kagan's view, as far as protection of the Western world is concerned, US policy since the end of the Second World War has been based on military superiority. At the same time Europe (that is, Western Europe and then the European Union) has been more inclined to use diplomatic and economic tools to exercise its influence in world politics. European outlook coincides with Kant's idea of eternal peace; it is such a world where countries co-exist on the basis of unshakeable universal ethical standards. The USA - continues Kagan - see the world as Hobbesian one, where each country is surrounded by potential enemies, which would do anything in the pursuit of their selfish goals. Kagan claims that nowadays, in relation to major strategic issues Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus.