Power : European and American

Robert Kagan has written an interesting analysis of why Americans and Europeans have such different attitudes to the use of force in foreign policy. Power and Weakness

His basic contention is that America and Europe have traded attitudes toward power since a century ago. Back then Europe wanted to exercise unilateral power over its empire, shipping, etc. while America wanted to work multilaterally through international law. The situation is now reversed because the relative power of America and Europe has flipped: America now has the military and economic power that Europe once commanded.