European Integration A Concise History

by Gilbert, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780742566644
• ISBN10: 0742566641
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-17
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

A fully revised and updated edition of Surpassing Realism: The Politics of European Integration since 1945, this book remains the standard for concise histories of the European Union. Mark F. Gilbert offers a clear and balanced narrative of European integration since its inception to the present, set in the wider history of the post-war period. Imperial decline and decolonization, the threat and then fall of communism, the impact of American policy, and the democratization of the Mediterranean and central European countries are just some of the contemporaneous historical developments whose intersecting stories have been woven into this book'¬"s fabric. The European Union remains a remarkable experiment in regional cooperation, but the aura of success that has enveloped the process of integration for much of the period since the 1950s is dissipating in the wake of dire economic collapses and heated immigration debates. Gilbert concludes by examining the mood of crisis that has taken hold in the EU since 2005 and considers the Union'¬"s future.

Author Biography

Mark Gilbert is visiting associate professor of contemporary European history at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Bologna, on leave from the University of Trento.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Abbreviations and Acronyms	p. xi
Chronology 1945-2011	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Enemies to Partners: The Politics of Cooperation in Western Europe 1945-1950	p. 9
The American Vision for Europe: The Marshall Plan and the OEEC	p. 11
A "Harmonious Society": The Vision of the European Movement	p. 16
Cooperation between Governments: The British Vision	p. 20
The German Question and the Schuman Plan	p. 24
Ever Closer Union: From the Schuman Plan to the Economic Community 1950-1958	p. 33
The Coal and Steel Community	p. 35
The Defense Community	p. 39
From Messina to Rome	p. 44
The Treaties of Rome: March 25, 1957	p. 51
Washington's Benevolent Gaze	p. 57
In the Shadow of the General: De Gaulle and the EEC 1958-1969	p. 61
The EEC's First Four Years	p. 62
The "Union of States"	p. 65
The First British Negotiation for Entry	p. 69
The "Empty Chair" Crisis and the Luxembourg Compromise	p. 77
A Certain Vision of Europe	p. 83
Weathering the Storm: The EC during the 1970s	p. 89
The Hague Conference and Its Consequences	p. 90
From Six to Nine	p. 92
Monetary Turmoil 1971-1974	p. 96
Foreign Policy Initiatives and the Tindemans Report	p. 100
The European Monetary System	p. 105
Beyond the Common Market	p. 111
The 1992 Initiative and Relaunch of the Community	p. 117
France Sees the Light	p. 118
The British Budgetary Question	p. 121
Mediterranean Enlargement	p. 125
The 1992 Initiative and the Dooge Committee	p. 129
The Single European Act	p. 134
Evaluating the Single European Act	p. 139
The Maastricht Compromise	p. 143
The "Delors Package" and the Delors Report	p. 144
The Bruges Speech	p. 149
German Unification and Its Consequences	p. 152
An Obstacle Removed	p. 155
The "Hour of Europe"	p. 157
The Treaty on European Union	p. 164
Making Sense of Maastricht	p. 169
EUphoria?	p. 173
Adopting the Euro	p. 174
Enlargement	p. 182
The Institutional Question	p. 188
The EU's Growing World Role	p. 198
Toward a Twin-Track Europe?	p. 205
Brought Back to Earth	p. 206
A PIGS' Breakfast?	p. 212
European Norms	p. 218
Notes	p. 223
Bibliographical Essay	p. 253
Index	p. 259
About the Author	p. 269
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