Europeanization and European Integration: Empirical and Historical Developments

Abstract

In this chapter we turn to more empirical matters and the occurrences that impacted on the formation of the EU. This is not to say that ideas and actions are divorced from each other but that the two areas continually interact in the formation of phenomenon. In 1945, most agreed that the Wilsonian agreement that followed the First World War was flawed and in the aftermath of the Second World War a different form of treaty was necessary. Many considered that the Versailles Treaty precipitated and ensured the outbreak of the Second World War and, if a lasting peace was to be realized in Europe, new strategies needed to be explored. ‘In 1919 Germany’s first democratic government was forced to its knees with …an impossible settlement and so was left open to be vilified by the lurking reaction as traitors to the nations life and honour’ (Mitrany, 1975c, p. 19). Indeed, it has been argued that in the immediate post- Second World War period many wanted to replace the European system of nation-states with a new polity of European citizenship (Pinder, 1993). However, in the aftermath of the Second World War, this was not the only rationale for the formation of the EU. The Cold War was also perceived as a reason for constructing a united Europe so it could act as a defence buffer against the Soviet Union.