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Footballer Kelce, singer Swift:
Instead of always staring at the USA, we should work on our own identity
Photo: Julio Cortez / AP
Tonight, 9,000 kilometers away, an event is taking place that superficially looks like this: Two and a half tons (conservatively estimated) of male flesh are wedged together over and over again - very large, very strong men in plastic armor and short leggings. It is a sport that only a few active people practice in Europe, whose rituals, rules and strategies are foreign to most people and which does not seem to fit into the zeitgeist of woke mindfulness. Nevertheless, millions of people watch with fascination. Why actually?
Outside the USA, Germany is the country with the largest proportion of football viewers, followed by Great Britain and India. But there is also increased interest in Sweden, France, Italy and China, according to the analysis firm Standard & Poor's.
So far, the typical football fan in this country is male, well-earning and averagely educated. But that is changing. This time, many younger female fans are allowed to join in: The liaison between pop star Taylor Swift and player Travis Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers in the football league final (Super Bowl) in Las Vegas, is driving attention previously unknown heights. She – a progressive-minded icon of contemporary feminism, composer of various hymns of her generation. He – a guy of almost two meters and more than two hundredweight live weight, active in probably the most masculine team sport of all. Is what doesn't actually belong together growing together?
In the USA, right-wing conspiracy mystics are overflowing with absurd stories that the high-profile coalition between Joe Biden supporter Swift and a star from the more Republican-leaning football community could only be a perfidious government plan. It's all about taking Donald Trump's election victory away. Meanwhile, Biden's strategists hope to somehow capitalize on Taylor Swift's popularity.
But on this side of the blurred border where the private becomes political - and therefore indirectly affects us Europeans - the question arises: What do we have to do with it? Why do millions and millions outside the US love American football?
I suspect one answer lies in our divided and occasionally neurotic relationship with America.
At the center of global news flows
A few years ago, the communication scientists Elad Segev and Menahem Blondheim determined in a large-scale empirical study that the USA receives worldwide media attention that is difficult to grasp by conventional standards. Yes, the USA is the largest economy in the world. They are one of the largest trading nations. They have the largest military and are involved in many trouble spots around the globe. But such hard factors alone are not enough to explain why nearly a fifth of all international news worldwide relates to the United States in some way.
In Germany, for example, the USA was more present in the media than all other EU states and the European institutions combined. A grotesque disproportion - and a real political obstacle in view of the urgent need for further integration of Europe. By the way, the USA was also the number one international news topic in China, Russia and elsewhere. America is "the center of a global system" of news flows, conclude Segev and Blondheim.
This dominance in the international media spectacle does not mean that everyone around the world idealizes America. Not at all. It's more like the rest of the world focuses on the USA because people relate to America.
The rulers in China and Russia see themselves as a counter-model, but they want to be treated and respected by Washington on an equal footing. When former US President Barack Obama publicly degraded Russia to a mere “regional power,” it was seen as a massive affront to Moscow’s self-image.
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In Europe we cultivate a particularly abstruse form of ambivalence: we look at America, feel frightened and are fascinated at the same time. The US image of Germans is largely shaped by the figure at the top.
As long as Donald Trump reigned supreme in the White House, three quarters of German citizens considered the relationship with the USA to be bad. That changed suddenly when Joe Biden was elected. Now three-quarters consider German-American relations to be good, as a study by the Pew opinion research institute shows. Accordingly, the prospect of another Trump presidency is causing great unease in this country - but without us drawing the necessary conclusions.
This is dangerous, also for the economy.
Infamous, but not surprising
You can also see it this way: We allow ourselves to be drawn into the internal contradictions of a country that are not ours - and we pay far too little attention to how we can stabilize Germany and the EU as a whole to the point that we can do so on our own become capable of acting. While public attention is focused on the microscopic details of America's internal constitution, our own Constitution falls out of focus. What is discussed publicly enjoys political priority. If we allow ourselves to be distracted too much, there will be a lack of pressure to act in a democracy.
We continue to rely on Washington for security policy - and at the same time we recognize that we shouldn't do that. Even if Biden is re-elected, Europe will not be able to avoid defending itself, supporting Ukraine, containing Russia and China in our hemisphere. The USA is overwhelmed by this, no matter who sits in the White House. Trump's Republicans in the US Congress are already blocking further military aid for Ukraine. This is infamous, but not really a surprise.
Nevertheless, almost two years after Olaf Scholz's "turning point" speech, the Federal Republic has taken no steps towards a sustainable increase in defense efforts. What happens when the hastily set up 100 billion euro special pot runs out? What should a European military – often called for in Sunday speeches – look like, including joint armed forces and nuclear deterrence? All of this remains vague at best.
America's Dynamics - and Us
We are also dependent on America when it comes to the economy. We rely on imports for key technologies and critical raw materials. The macroeconomic situation is also worrying. The Eurozone has been running massive surpluses in its foreign trade balance since the sovereign debt crisis in the early 2010s. At its peak, the annual balance reached $400 billion. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is once again predicting a large surplus ($224 billion) for 2024. Germany contributes the largest part.
Instead of presenting a reasonably balanced foreign trade balance, as is actually appropriate for such a large economic area - and that also means investing more in Europe - we are still relying on the USA to continue to keep the global economy going. And because China is currently pursuing a similar strategy, America has slipped deep into a deficit: almost $800 billion this year. The fact that this triggers protectionist backlash in Washington, not just from the brutal protectionist Donald Trump, should surprise no one.
Because of European sovereignty
The Science and Politics Foundation has just presented a study on “European Sovereignty”. Result: The EU has “significant sovereignty deficits”, especially when it comes to security and the economy. “What weighs most heavily is Europe’s inability to defend itself. Only those who can defend themselves can be fully sovereign.” (Look out for the Munich Security Conference from
Friday
.)
But none of this is a major domestic or European political issue. We prefer to look at Washington - full of anger, admiration, distrust, depending on what's going on.
And there's always something going on. America is great entertainment. This is not a criticism, but a quality. The USA's
soft power
, a formula coined by the political scientist Joseph Nye, results precisely from its cultural appeal - including Hollywood, Taylor Swift and (for me) the Super Bowl, including brilliant, megalomaniacal entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and tech giants like Microsoft , Apple, Alphabet and more recently Nvidia and OpenAI.
Instead of staring at the USA, getting annoyed, amused, excited, feeling repelled or beguiled, we should use this vital creative force as an incentive to achieve great things ourselves - with our own characteristics, according to our own needs.
It's about time. In a multipolar world, everyone should not define themselves in terms of affection or rejection of the fading world power, but rather work on their own identity - and see how they can achieve sustainable global governance with everyone else.
The most important economic events of the coming week
Monday
Reporting season I
– Michelin business figures.
Tuesday
Washington –
Down, up, stable?
– The US authorities publish figures on inflation developments in January. New fuel for the speculation that has been going on for months about the future path of interest rates.
Paris –
Energy please!
- The responsible ministers of the member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA) will meet on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Energy Consumers' Organization, which was once founded as a Western counterweight to the OPEC oil cartel (until Wednesday).
Reporting season II
- business figures from TUI, Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Randstad, Coca-Cola, AIG, Moody's, Biogen, Marriott, Lyft.
Wednesday
Passau etc. –
Politics in a leather wrapping
– Political Ash Wednesday. Speakers: Söder (Passau), Aiwanger (Deggendorf), Nouripour (Landshut), Klingbeil (Landshut), Ramelow and Wissler (Tiefenbach), Strack-Zimmermann (Dingolfing), Wagenknecht (Passau). And various others.
Jakarta –
Big country
– presidential election in Indonesia. The country with 250,000 inhabitants is one of the most important emerging countries in the 21st century. Whether the country is oriented more towards China or more towards the USA is an open but highly relevant question.
Reporting season III
- business figures from Thyssenkrupp, Bilfinger, Delivery Hero, ABN Amro, Heineken, EssilorLuxottica, Capgemini, Ahold Delhaize, Kraft Heinz, Cisco, Sony.
Thursday
Brussels –
Ukraine is running out of ammunition
– NATO defense ministers meeting. At the top of the agenda is the war in Ukraine, but also the assertion of defense capabilities within the alliance.
Reporting season IV
– business figures from Airbus, Commerzbank, Stellantis, Renault, Orange, Euronext, Pernod Ricard, Schneider Electric, Deere.
Friday
Munich –
security, freedom and everything else
– beginning of the Munich Security Conference chaired by former Merkel advisor Heusgen. 50 heads of state and government and around 100 ministers are expected (until Sunday).
Reporting season V
– business figures from ENI, Swiss Re, BB Biotech, Natwest, Volkswagen (deliveries in January).