The Power of Europe
Trinity University Political Scientist Analyzes the Continent’s ‘Fragile Ego’   

By Susie P. Gonzalez 

Professor Peter O'Brien

For centuries, Europeans have had an inferiority complex. Their quest for world dominance was first foiled by Muslims from the time of first Crusade in 1095 until the final Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and later by Americans from 1776 until the present, according to Peter O’Brien, professor of political science at Trinity University.

Such shifts in power caught the scholarly imagination of Professor O’Brien more than 10 years ago. He has spent the intervening decade researching and writing a book titled European Perceptions of Islam & America from Saladin to George W. Bush: Europe’s Fragile Ego Uncovered – not an easy feat considering the massive amount of analysis it required, including a self-education in world history.

 The concept for the book came to Professor O’Brien while he was a Fulbright Scholar living in Istanbul conducting research on Turkish emigrants to Germany, having learned the Turkish language in order to conduct interviews. During a cab ride to his apartment, he was struck by the city’s extraordinary skyline that included rolling hills, expansive waterways, monumental gates, luxurious palaces, and breathtaking mosques that hadn’t changed (much) since the 1500s. As he took in these images on the Golden Horn, where Europe meets Asia, he recalled that many Europeans are awestruck today when they first arrive in New York City. They must have felt similarly, he surmised, when first encountering Istanbul (Constantinople) in the 15^th or 16^th century. He began to conjecture that Europeans are not as secure in their identity as Eurocentrist theories might hold.

Peter O'Brien is pictured outside a former mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, that was converted into a national museum known as Hagia Sophia (St. Sophia Museum) which means "Holy Wisdom" in Greek..

Acknowledging his thesis was a challenge, Professor O’Brien set out to explore Europeans’ self-perceived rivalry with Islamic civilization in pre-modern times and with the USA in the modern era. “I’m interested in how people from different cultures view each other and ultimately how they can learn to live together.” This interest has spawned his next research project on contemporary European responses to the existence of large numbers of Muslims residing in Europe.

Muslims once had vast empires, great armies, rich culture, and access to luxuries such as delicious fruits and fine cloth that Europeans envied for centuries. With independence that America won from England in 1776 the United States appeared to Europeans something like a “rookie sensation” destined soon to outshine the established players. Such anxiety about America’s future, said Professor O’Brien, fed feelings of anti-Americanism in Europe.  “This is deeply rooted and will not go away because we elected Barack Obama (as president.). Europeans feel Americans stole modernity from Europe and did it in a way that cheapened all the best qualities that Europe had to offer.”

Not all has been bleak for the Europeans. Professor O’Brien contends that their “self-doubt” forged an “intense introspection” that led to reform movements such as the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution as shining periods in Europe’s existence. Ongoing efforts to expand and strengthen the European Union could usher in another major renewal. The audience for his book includes scholars who deal with the question of Europe’s identity as well as a wider audience of history buffs, he said. The book is not intended to be a primary collegiate textbook and is more likely to be assigned along with a conventional text as a way to stimulate discussion in courses focused on Western civilization and world history. Questions Professor O’Brien asks are, “What does it mean to be European today?” and “Who are the Europeans?”  

Peter O'Brien at the Pergamum in Turkey.

Courses Taught

Masters of Suspicion: Contemporary Political Thought

Thinking about Politics

Comparing Countries

Political Economy of Europe, Japan & the USA

European Politics

Selected Publications

“Making (Normative) Sense of the Headscarf Debate in Europe” German Politics and Society 27/3(Autumn 2009): 66-92

“America: A Civilization of Its Own?” Comparative Civilizations Review (Fall 2007): 29-52

“Europe: A Civilization on the Edge” Comparative Civilizations Review (Fall 2005): 52-85

“Islamic Civilisation’s Role in the Waning of the European Middle Ages” Medieval History Journal (October 1999): 387-404

Books

European Perceptions of Islam & America from Saladin to George W. Bush: Europe’s Fragile Ego Uncovered (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=328350

Beyond the Swastika: The Legacy of the Holocaust and Postwar Immigration Policy in Germany (London: Routledge, 1996)
http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/title/beyond-the-swastika-o'brien-ebooks.htm

© 2009 Trinity University