Editorial

Citation

Rankin, A. (2003), "Editorial", European Business Review, Vol. 15 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2003.05415bab.001

Editorial

EditorJohn Coleman

Deputy EditorAidan Rankin

A common theme of this apparently disparate collection of articles is power, or more specifically the concentration of power in the hands of remote central authorities, self-appointed experts or (more insidiously) political activists who become authoritarian when their ideals are not immediately realised.

Managers, these days, appear to be acquiring more power than politicians, generals or entrepreneurs. In private and public sectors, in education and health as well as industry, a cult of managerialism appears to have taken hold, and with it an emphasis on formal qualifications, specialism and expertise. John Macdonald, himself a management consultant of wide experience, is critical of the new methods of training managers. He believes that they resemble too much the mass production line and so they fail to produce rounded individuals with a sense of history and a breadth of culture.

The narrow specialist is not, in any case, a real "expert", for lack of knowledge outside a small area makes shrewd comment or balanced judgement impossible. It is perhaps because of the narrow focus of modern education that so many politicians, journalists and lobbyists appear to be in the grip of extreme economic ideologies or simplistic social theories. The big ideological controversies are over, we are told repeatedly, but fanaticism is alive and well – whether of the "market fundamentalist" or the "politically correct" variety. Macdonald's article is adapted for New European from his erudite and highly readable book. It reminds us that a little learning is truly a dangerous thing.

One simplistic social theory popular with the managerial class is that of sentimental internationalism, the idea that, because as human beings "we are all brothers and sisters", it is possible to forget about and dispense with national identities or local cultures. This misreading of human needs and human nature is, Lindsay Jenkins believes, at the heart of a certain type of Euro-federalist politics, which assumes that a new state called "Europe" can be forged out of the existing European nations, East as well as West. This new state will inevitably be centralised and coercive, she argues, because there is no natural focus for popular affection and because the cultural differences within Europe are expressed in economic discrepancies. Her specific example is the City of London, whose financial institutions have developed in a different climate from their continental counterparts and so do not benefit from Europe-wide prescriptions. The problems of the City reflect the underlying problem with the transfer of power upwards in the European Union, away from the nation state. Far from promoting co-operation and friendship, which was the original idea, they produce conflict and deadlock. European culture is less a unified whole and more a series of interlocking circles. Political institutions and economic practices should reflect this diversity, rather than seeking to impose an artificial uniformity.

Finally, we have two reviews. The first, by John Bunzl, a New European author, is of Alastair McIntosh's lyrical account of the successful campaign by the people of Eigg to retake control of their Scottish island and its fragile ecosystem. Theirs was indeed a heroic struggle against arbitrary, corporate power. However, neither Bunzl nor McIntosh mention the fact that "committed campaigners" (Bunzl's phrase) can be as oblivious to the needs of real communities as feudal overlords, and they are usually more so. Regrettably, there are intimations of this authoritarian approach in McIntosh's book. He attacks traditional religion, dismissing it (simplistically and unoriginally) as "patriarchal" and presents an urban (specifically US) form of political correctness as the only legitimate world-view. This illiberal tendency sits ill with the author's genuine concern for social justice – and his belief that the traditions of the Eigg islanders have lasting cultural value.

Brian Blackshaw, a writer and engineer who has lived in many countries, rounds us off with a discussion of "McDonaldization" as an economic and cultural phenomenon. Ironically, enthusiasm for this type of fast food, and the mentality that goes with it, are fading quickly in the over-developed world, especially among the elites. Fast food is no longer a symbol of affluence, but part of a new culture of poverty, economic and spiritual, against which all this issue's authors are prepared to stand out.

Aidan Rankin