Europe
since World War II in historical perspective:
international cooperation versus the power of individual states and nations
(diagram of an interpretation of the question)
Question: Anyone who studies the history of Europe, eventually realizes that its history is marked by two competing developments: international cooperation and the power of independent states and nations.” In an essay assess this generalization, drawing up the readings, lectures, and discussions in the course to marshal specific evidence and examples to support your claims. You must include examples from at least three of the four or five centuries that we have explored this semester, i.e., ca. 1500 to the 1990s
Notes in addition to the conceptual diagram handed out in class: two competing patterns
1. Internationalism vs. Nationalism and the Nation State
2. European Co-operation, Integration, Unity
Nationalism and the Nation State in broad historical perspective
Liberal nationalism from the French Revolution, compared to nationalism based on language and ethnicity; inclusive compared to inclusive; liberal compared to intolerant.
Chief functions of the Nation State
War
Primary and secondary education for the population
Social Welfare: health insurance, unemployment insurance, etc.
Protection of civil rights
Abuses of the Nation State:
Attacking minorities by removing their citizenship and undermining or eliminating their civil and human rights. The holocaust was the most infamous example
Militarism
The Unity of Europe: the long-run historical perspective
Roman Empire
Charlemagne’s Empire, ca 800
The Roman Catholic Church--the head of Latin Christendom
shattered by the Reformation of the 16th century
Treaty of Westphalia, 1648: established a uniform principle of sovereign states in Europe, both a unifying process and the recognition of the power and importance of separate states as compared to a supra-national organization.
Napoleonic Empire--the attempt to unify Europe under French hegemony
The Concert System, 1815-1890s, established to provide political stability (under monarchical forms), repress challenges, and avert costly wars.
Zollverein: German customs union of the 19th century that encouraged and helped lay the groundwork for German unification.
League of Nations in 1920s and 1930s
The Idea of Unity: the latest chapters, 1945-
Bleak outlook for Europe in 1945
History instructs: efforts at overcoming the follies of two World Wars and historic national rivalries
Motives for increased cooperation ca. 1945-1960
Concern about security from expansionist USSR
Concern to prevent future German militarism
Desire to foster European economic growth and strength in a world economy dominated by the US
Desire, less widely shared, to work toward full political unification of Europe
Achievements:
1952 European Coal and Steel Community, France, Italy, W. Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, join to facilitate coordination of coal and steel production.
1957 Treaty of Rome establishes the Common Market (European Economic Community) of the above Six, to eliminate tariff barriers, permit free movement of money and workers across national borders, cooperate on development of the peaceful uses of atomic research
First agreement between France and Germany for cooperation since 1870
Results by 1960s
Customs barriers reduced and trade expanded
Prosperity reaches unprecedented levels and is fairly widely spread over different social groups in the population
Prospects and Problems
Political Integration has increased through the expansion of the EEC in membership (soon to be 15); since 1979, European Parliament directly elected; Single European Act enabled better decision making by majority vote, instead of unanimity, the determination of policy in the Council of Ministers of the EEC, the chief legislative power. Treaty of European Union of 1992 sets up timetable for the introduction of common currency, and further elimination of obstacles to movement of money, workers, and trade.
Problems, many are historically conditioned
France, for example, historically prefers a greater degree of central control over the economy and so forth, than does Great Britain, and Germany which has a history of working within the framework of federation as opposed to a unitary state like France. France wants to use the EEC to extend its influence over Europe, but having more members, especially from Eastern Europe, is seen by the French as diluting its influence.
Germany favors less protectionist trading policies than does France because Germany’s economy is export based to a greater degree than other European countries.
Germany also pursues a tight monetary policy that is geared almost exclusively to controlling inflation, a choice shaped by the hyper inflation of the 1920s. Other countries such as Great Britain and Italy prefer greater flexibility in balancing inflation and unemployment.
Helmut Kohl, Germany’s current chancellor, recently said that “the nation state is dead.” France and Great Britain were not pleased because they want to maintain a large degree of national sovereignty.
As the authority of the EEC Commission in Brussels has increased, so has the opposition to bureaucratic meddling. Anti-Brussels slogans can be exploited by politicians seeking national office.
