The New Totalitarian Temptation: Global Governance and the Crisis of Democracy in Europe

In Europe and increasingly in the United States, there is a moral struggle taking place between the two paradigms of government: the self-government of sovereign citizens within the liberal democratic nation-state and the supranationalist vision of a global legal order to be established via a growing web of international organizations administering an ever more comprehensive body of international law and regulation. The central question in the conflict is: do free peoples have the right to rule themselves, or must they share sovereignty with others in the interest of achieving greater levels globally of liberty, respect for human rights, and the rule of law? This book examines the European Union's commitment to the idea of global governance, its claim that self-government and global government can coexist, and the effects of the EU's supranationalist vision on Europe's relations with the United States.

Reviews

“The ‘European project’ is unraveling—not a moment too soon—because its soft authoritarianism is becoming too obvious to disguise or ignore. Todd Huizinga demonstrates how the European Union’s multiplying misadventures are reminding us of what EU elites want us to forget: the indissoluble link between rights-based self-government and the nation-state, which is not an anachronism after all.”
—George F. Will

“If the European Union prefigures one possible future of the global order, as Todd Huizinga argues, globally concerned citizens cannot afford to ignore the questions he raises in this book. Wise in tone and even prophetic, it is seasoned with personal experience and shows a solid grasp of practical policies as well as ideas. This is essential reading for all who care about the course on which humanity is sailing.”
—Os Guinness, author of The Global Public Square

“This is the best book ever written about the European Union. Having spent years in Brussels as an American diplomat, Huizinga knows European politics and culture as few statesmen or scholars do. He deftly dissects the powerful vision of global governance behind the endless directives from the EU bureaucracy. This lucidly argued text is indispensable to understanding Europe’s current crises—of democracy and sovereignty, immigration and national identity—as well as America’s relationship with Europe.”
—John Fonte, director of the Center for American Common Culture at the Hudson Institute, author of Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or Be Ruled by Others?