An Essay on Mourning
In today’s guest post, a heartfelt letter from Europe
“Farewell to America”
By A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan, a former member of the Dutch Senate and University Professor of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam
The painful and inevitable farewell to America that is now underway in The Netherlands and in many other parts of Europe is best understood—and described—as what it truly is: a process of mourning. A steady, familiar partner of many years is disappearing from our lives. Only gradually do we begin to grasp what makes the loss so shocking.
Such a mourning process comes with a familiar sequence of emotions. It often begins, as it does on this occasion, with shock and disbelief. The generous friendship of old seemed to vanish overnight; the military protection once solemnly promised suddenly became uncertain. In its place came harsh reproaches and demands for deference. The re-elected president cast himself as the perfect villain: crude, shameless, unpredictable.
This intrusive assertiveness will not be confined to four years. It is becoming ever clearer that the new configuration of America’s relationship with the rest of the world will outlive Trump’s chaotic presidency. The eighty years of peace, loyally and generously upheld by the United States after World War II, can never again be taken for granted.
Shock and disbelief after a dramatic separation are often followed by anger and sadness, nourished by fond memories. And there is no shortage of the latter. No country has left a greater political, cultural, and economic imprint on our postwar lives than America. We imitated its prosperity, consumed its products, coveted its technology. We ate hamburgers and drank Coke. We listened to Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Madonna. We devoured Hemingway, Updike, and Roth. We admired Pollock, de Kooning, and Rothko. We watched Hitchcock, Scorsese, and Spielberg, and still subscribe to Netflix, Disney, and HBO.
And we travelled. On vacation: driving on America’s impeccable highways through its national parks and on to Disneyland. Or for work or study: waking up in cities that never sleep, strolling across campuses in Berkeley or Boston. A country of space, of ideas, of talent, of energy. Hospitable. Eager for positive change.
Of course, there always was a darker side to the US, of conservative narrow-mindedness visible even from within the bubbles of our circles of friends and acquaintances. There were violent wars in distant lands, and there was shocking inequality within the American society, which could be harsh and unforgiving. But Americans always seemed to rediscover their true selves and, sometimes by the narrowest of margins, always seemed to be able to pursue a promising new path for their country.
Is all of that over forever? Not entirely. Nature will endure (though less accessible than before); culture will survive (though damaged and impoverished). But what does seem to be definitively over is the mutual sense of a huge, shared, common interest. Not so much as a side effect of the foolish import tariffs, which are more likely to weaken America industrially than to strengthen it. Rather, it stems from the new American worldview in which there is serious room only for two dominant nations: China and the United States, each surrounded by its own spheres of influence. Both countries have, for years, been economically far more successful than Europe, and have developed a lead in technological and military capability that threatens to reduce our continent to a timid bystander role. Trump’s verbal assault on Zelensky in the White House set the new tone toward Europe: “Sit down and shut up.” And following the raid on Venezuela, even a military confrontation between the US and its NATO allies over Greenland is not entirely inconceivable.
Mourning brings self-reproach, as well as regret over missed opportunities. Could we have seen this coming? Yes, we could have. From Trump’s first four years, for example, or from the speech of his vice president in Munich. America’s darker trends were never invisible; the decay of the blue-collar states, feeding into populism, was plainly visible even on vacation. Recent American ambassadors to the Netherlands already reflected, in their backgrounds, the diminishing importance attached by the US to our longstanding historical relationship.
Unlike the death of a beloved compatriot, this particular collective mourning process still leaves—at least in theory—a little room for hope. Might things yet turn out well? Perhaps. But there is little evidence for optimism. The cringe-inducing European sycophantism in dealing with Trump, as much as it matches that of his cabinet members, seems to inspire little more than his disdain. It impresses him far less than China’s hard pushback, coming as it does from a country that expands its lead in knowledge and innovation by the day and is well on its way to becoming a fully self-sufficient, mercantilist superstate. Tough, businesslike interaction with China will be a far higher priority for any future American president than a splendid state dinner in one of Europe’s many sumptuous palaces.
Life goes on. The completion of this mourning process, as always, calls for reassessment, adjustment, and restoration—best undertaken from a realistic perspective on what lies ahead for us and for America. Even if nature and culture cope and survive, the once-superior American scientific enterprise, for example, may well succumb to the ongoing attack on its rightly cherished academic freedom. Recently, I—along with five others—withdrew from the Dutch Fulbright board, in principled opposition to the unprecedented political constraints imposed by the United States government on the exchange program. We were, however, the only ones in Europe to take this step, and did so against the explicit wishes of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.
That disappointing experience illustrates an opportunity as well as an obligation. Whenever possible, we must show solidarity with what remains in America of decency and goodwill—preferably in a coordinated European setting. Recently, I joined a demonstration opposite the Dutch U.S. consulate, together with a few hundred American expatriates, against the erosion of democratic traditions and classical checks and balances in their country. Their banners and chants deserve recognition and support: before their and our eyes, America is evolving into a historically inconceivable autocracy at a frightening pace.
European politics has finally begun to regroup; every future Dutch cabinet will have to live with the crucial contribution of Brussels to our survival as a nation. Europe must restore its competitiveness, strengthen its defence, integrate its markets, accelerate its decision-making, and close its political ranks—or face a future as an obsequious holiday destination, with an abundance of historical splendor and a lack of current relevance.
So, finally then, the end of this mourning process also produces firm resolutions for the future: political ones like the above, and personal ones. The starting point for the latter is alarmingly simple: the democratic state, with all its blessings and all its challenges, is proving to be far, far more fragile than I have ever dared to imagine.
Alexander Rinnooy Kan studied mathematics in Leiden and econometrics in Amsterdam. He has held academic positions at a number of universities, including Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam. At Erasmus University Rotterdam, he was appointed professor of Operational Research in 1980, before becoming director of the Econometrics Institute in 1983, and Rector Magnificus from 1986 to 1989. In addition, he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. In 2007, he was appointed honorary professor of Policy Analysis in the Private and Public Sectors at the UvA.
From 1991 to 1996, Rinnooy Kan was president of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry (VNO) and, after a merger with the Netherlands Christian Workers Union (NCW), the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW). In 1996, he joined the executive board of bank and insurer ING, where he remained a member until June 2006. From 2006 until 2012, he was a Crown-appointed member and chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands.
Professor A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan has been University Professor of Economics and Business at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) since 1 September 2012, with a specific focus on change processes at the micro and macro level.
From June 2015 to June 2019, he served in the Dutch Senate. He sits on a variety of boards and has advised the Dutch government on numerous occasions.
Alexander Rinnooy Kan is married and has three children.
On behalf of The Little Law School community, my thanks to Prof. Rinnooy Kan for sharing this moving essay.
I’m glad you’re here,
KW
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Professor Wehle:
I had the pleasure of attending your lecture at the University of Cologne and have followed you since. Thank you for sharing the essay by Professor Kan. And although I understand his inclination to mourn the loss of the United States as a trusted ally and partner when considering the behavior of the current administration, I would suggest that mourning is premature.
One might more accurately describe the current situation as a state of liminality where the outcome is yet uncertain. Many millions of Americans – the majority - are not prepared to cede our Democracy to the current, and temporary, occupants of the White House. That struggle is ongoing and strengthening.
Without question, these are dark and painful days, but we the people are not waving the white flag of surrender. On the contrary, the loyal opposition is rallying to retake control of Congress in November and the White House in 2028. Our Federal Judiciary has not capitulated, and the struggle in State Courts is only beginning to ripen.
Europe is wise to take responsibility for securing its defense and economic viability. As someone who currently lives in the EU, I have long hoped that efforts to more fundamentally unite Europe would prevail. These efforts are long overdue and their absence provides ripe fruit for the picking by a populist demagogue like Trump.
That said, it is premature to mourn the death of the US as a trusted ally – We have been seriously wounded but we aren’t dead yet!
Prof. Kan is not wrong; however, please do not give up on us yet. There are so many of us who do not support this regime or their worldview! Things may never be the same, but I hope, with time, we can move forward and find ourselves again. And thank you for standing strong! We need the rest of your European compatriots to do the same! Like you said, kissing the ring does nothing but draw scorn ... it does not change the behavior.