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The entry-point for Anderson’s first essay, ‘The European Coup’, is a book by the Dutch writer Luuk van Middelaar, ‘The Passage to Europe: How a Continent Became a Union’, reviews of which, says Anderson, “ransack the lexicon of admiration”.
Born in 1973, van Middelaar read history and philosophy at university, studying under Frank Ankersmit, who was best known for admiring the “aesthetics” of finding the political compromises to solve conflicts. He joined the Dutch liberal party, VVD, went to Paris to write his master’s thesis, and then embarked on a study of EU pension systems. In 2001 he wrote an article for a Dutch newspaper supporting the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. Only a strong leader, he argued, can deliver human rights, taking up “the modern man’s burden”.