HON351, American Ideals in Global Perspective
Spring Semester 2008
Study Guide
Comparing American with Europe
Readings:
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, "America the Different," pp. 291-313 in The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America, Penguin, 2004. (handout from instructor)
Robert Kutter, "The Copenhagen Consensus: Reading Adam Smith in Denmark," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 78-94 (electronic reserves)
Other articles (optional):
"Egalitarian Finland, Most Competitive Too" Christian Science Monitor, October 26, 2005.
"Is Free-market Britain Fair Enough for All?" Christian Science Monitor, October 25, 2005.
"French Inch toward Social Reform," Christian Science Monitor, October 27, 2005
"Numbers Show a Second Rate US," Christian Science Monitor, August 28, 2006
Websites (optional):
"And the Happiest Place in the World Is.......," CBS Video
Economic Policy Institute, "International Comparisons: How Does the US Stack Up?"
UK Home Office World Prison Population List (fifth edition)
US Bureau of Justice---Capital Punishment Statistics
World Values Survey, Cross-national Comparisons on Church Attendance
Questions to consider while reading Micklethwait and Wooldridge:
What do the authors mean by "American exceptionalism"?
What do public opinion polls reveal about the attitudes people of other countries have about the United States?
How do the attitudes of Europeans differ from those of Americans on:
American foreign policy
Criminal justice
Taxes and government programs
Capitalism
Abortion and religion
Questions to consider while reading the Kutter article?
1. How high are taxes in Denmark? What social services are provided by the Danish government?
2. What is meant by Danish "flexicurity"? How does it differ from labor/market policies in other European countries? And in the United States?
3. How well is the Danish economy performing? How does Denmark rank in global competitiveness?
4. What factors have made it possible for flexicurity to succeed in Denmark?
5. In what ways does immigration threaten to undermine the Danes to their economic and labor policies? What new challenges are posed by economic globalization?
6. Could the Danish model be successfully adopted in other countries, such as the United States?