*** MAXIME LEFEBVRE: La construction de l'Europe et l'avenir des nations. Armand Colin (5 rue Laromiguière, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 44395447 - Fax: 40464993 - email: infos@armand-colin.fr - Internet: http://www.armand-colin.com ). Comprendre le monde series. 2013, 203 pp, €24-50. ISBN 978-2-200-28633-0.
Maxime Lefebvre is clearly one of the 75% of the French electorate who didn't vote for Marine Le Pen in the recent European elections. A diplomat and professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, he demonstrated his perfect knowledge of Europe in a book entitled L'Union européenne peut-elle devenir une grande puissance?,' which we focussed upon in this column on 2 October 2012 (Bibliothèque européenne No. 10700/973). This new attempt, however, in which he proposes a systemic, 'holistic' interpretation of Europe of the nations generates profound unease because the reader senses that the author himself is distinctly uncomfortable, hemmed-in, in his attempt to carry out a systemic review of the interaction of Europe and its nations in fields such as border control, the organisation of institutions, the link with the economy and foreign affairs and the connections between France and Germany. Maxime Lefebvre makes readers feel ill at ease because a string of ambiguities trickle from his pen that have been cultivated by France about the European project, the full range of things left unsaid, the suppressed arrogance of a political class and a French elite whose circumvolutions are designed to preserve the greatness of France in the face of come what may, which has probably been the breeding ground for poisonous nationalism and populist streams that are flourishing so sickeningly today.
The author's arguments start from the observation that two contradictory movements are currently clashing in the European Union, namely a Europeanisation of nations on the one hand, and the resistance of particularisms and nations on the other hand, which although they come close to each other 'remain separate from each other through language, culture, history, geopolitics, mentality and their political, economic and social organisation'. It is the various facets of these different separations that he describes so categorically and deems insurmountable that Maxime Lefebvre then highlights with a certain erudition but without necessarily convincing the reader. Some will no doubt appreciate the way he regrets the presence of Greece in the eurozone, considering that historically and culturally the country has never belonged to the heart of European civilisation and is 'does not have a State that operates according to Western standards.' He therefore says that letting Greece join was a mistake and 'confirms a contrario the extent to which the more integrated heart of the eurozone is underpinned by a genuine substrata of civilisation.' This comment will surely jump out for those with ears to hear. But surely he will also find spirits just as stubborn - but in a different way - when he makes statements such as: 'a draft federal Europe is not the avowed final aim of the European project'? Does he need reminding of the existence in recent history, without having to go back centuries, of a certain Schuman Declaration that clearly indicated that the aim to be achieved over time was indeed a European Federation? No, in reality, apart from the French elites that have consigned Schuman and Monnet to the dungeons of history out of devout allegiance to General de Gaulle, Europeans have not decided to throw themselves into an 'ill-defined' common union. The truth is that France, followed by other countries headed by the United Kingdom, have constantly presented obstacles to possible federal developments and the Community Method that the author says is guilty of 'forcing through the logic of supranational institutions.'
Maxime Lefebvre says 'the institutional framework of the European Union is what nations have turned it into.' This is not true! When were nations, in other words individuals, ever consulted about it? In reality, the EU's institutional framework is only what States, the executive, have made it into. Can the French nation be reduced to the 25% of voters for the Front National? No, obviously not! Fortunately, the nation is more diverse, just as Europe is more diverse. If one exists, then why decree, as is argued throughout this book, that a European demos could never arise and that full and complete European democracy is not on the cards and is undesirable? In reality, in his making the case for the establishment of a Federation of Nation States with clipped wings, the author gives the impression of singing a swan song for French power, although he doesn't always give the impression that he is really so very convinced by his own arguments.
Michel Theys
*** GEORGE ROMAIOS: L'Europe et la crise. De la crise à l'espoir. Editions Patakis (38 Panayi Tsaldari, GR-10437 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3650000 - Fax: 3811940 - Email: bookstore@patakis.gr - Internet: http://www.patakis.gr ). Sciences sociales et politiques series. 2014, 272 pp, €11.70. ISBN 978-96-0165608-3.
The European Union is going through the most critical point in its history. The financial crisis has uncovered the divergences on which the single currency was built and therefore also the eurozone. In this book, former socialist prime minister George Romaios examines how the European project took shape after the Second World War, along with the complex process that is supposed to lead to a convergence of the interests of member states. He also analyses the underlying causes of the financial crisis, focussing on the eurozone's unfinished architecture, before describing the tragic consequences of the crisis in Greece and Southern Europe, which is leading to a reshaping of the European political landscape. The author has been an editorialist for the Vima newspaper since 1964. He examines the political implications of the austerity policies being pushed by Berlin and Brussels as an antidote to the crisis that has split Europe in the middle, dividing north from south. The author sees Greece as simply an amphitheatre where opposing forces are doing battle. In this context and in order to halt the rise of anti-Europeanism, George Romaios says it is crucial to kick-start the European project and learn from the historical errors committed in order to set to work to create a genuinely united Europe.
(AKa)
*** ADAM MARKUS: Die Geschichte des ungarischen Nationalismus. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P. O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Studien zur Kulturpolitik" series. 2013, 146 pp, €24-95. ISBN 978-3-631-62563-7.
In the light of the concern in Europe about the rise of far right movements in Hungary over the past decade, Adam Markus, an Austrian of Hungarian background, takes a look at current events in this book and presents a history of Hungarian nationalism, mainly in the modern period. This detailed book with many references in Hungarian is cleary the work of a connoisseur. The author is also a master of historical science and adroitly manipulates the concepts of State and nation; placing each event and character in a well-defined historical context. This skill enables him to methodically demonstrate the beliefs and historical interpretations close to the heart of Hungary's far right. In this publication financed by the Austrian Communist Party, however, the author is not exempt from a degree of partiality: from time to time, he gives the impression of moving away from his original subject matter to relate a history of Hungary with a rather descriptive tone and dealing with side-issues in a rapid or even erroneous manner (when he says, for example, that in the 1980's, the economic situation was 'not much better' in the West than in countries in the Soviet block). The author also tends to put nationalism on trial against right wing parties, although on two occasions he is careful to talk about the existence of nationalist movements in left-wing parties. Unfortunately this crucial aspect of the subject matter was not given the space it deserved. Finally, the author rightly devotes a relatively large section of the book to the recent period, but tends to downplay the responsibility of Hungarian social democrats in the deterioration of the political situation from 2006 onwards, making the right and far right virtually the sole parties responsible for this. Despite these limitations about the subject matter and the occasionally lack-lustre style, the book as a whole is reader-friendly and provides instructive information about a subject currently much in the news.
(GLe)
*** CHRISTIAN GIORDANO, NICOLAS HAYOZ (Eds.): Informality in Eastern Europe. Structures, Political Cultures and Social Practices. Peter Lang (see above). Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe. 2013, 490 pp, €99-80. ISBN 978-3-0343-1455-8.
In this collection of essays edited by Christian Giordano, professor of social anthropology at Fribourg University, who also lectures at the Universities of Bucharest and Murcia, and by political scientist Nicolas Hayoz, director of the inter-faculty institute of Central and Eastern Europe at Fribourg University, various aspects of informal structures and practices in Eastern Europe are analysed with a two-fold aim. Firstly, this academic approach attempts to understand the extent to which informal structures and practices in Eastern Europe have different significances, functions and effects from those observed in the policies and society of Western Europe. Most of the authors are from the region. They discuss the scientific usefulness of the differentiation between formal and informal within their own disciplines and areas of research. The book's second objective is to encourage interaction among different disciplines that tend not to know much about each other. Despite the inevitable and crucial epistemological differences, these disciplines tend to have significantly similar interests. This is the case, for instance, for the comparative analysis of political phenomena in terms of elementary forms of social organisation. The relationship between formality and informality can be analysed using a more pluralist and therefore more holistic methodology, combining anthropology, political science and sociology. This would enable this multidisciplinary comparative approach to be extended to other subjects and phenomena of mutual interest.
(SD)
*** IRENA GRUDZINSKA-GROSS, ANDRZEJ TYMOWSKI (Eds.): Eastern Europe: Women in Transition. Peter Lang (see above). “Eastern European Culture, Politics and Societies” series, No. 1. 2013, 338 pp, €51-95. ISBN 978-3-631-62865-2.
This is the first book in a new series of the best articles from the quarterly review East European Politics and Societies. This very first in the series has its authors examining gender and social transition. They examine the situation facing women in Eastern Europe in flux and propose a new historical perspective for the region. The tome covers a number of countries over the twelve-year period from 1994 to 2006. This is the time period during which the attempts to introduce gender in research on Eastern Europe were the most intense. The book's trajectory starts with the introduction of gender studies in research into Eastern Europe and runs until the moment when gender analysis became applied without hesitation in political, legal, historical, cultural and economic research alike. The review East European Politics and Societies was published for the first time in 1986, in the wake of the interest generated by the political changes observed in Eastern Europe. The review examined not only political resistance but also history, economics, culture and, later, gradual social adjustment to the European Union in the region.
(SD)
*** JULIE ANNE DEMEL: Regard historique sur la diplomatie féminine en Autriche et en France. De la paix des Dames 3 août 1529 au traité de Lisbonne 13 décembre 2007. Peter Lang (see above). Academic Research series, No. III/1093. 2013, 372 pp, €59-95. ISBN 978-3-631-62929-1.
It all begins with an indictment: 'So far, history has only been written from the masculine point of view. However, views of history totally change when it is told from the feminine point of view. We then find that some women have also contributed to the construction of Europe and their role must be taken into consideration'… It is in the study of the history of Franco-Austrian relations that this comment jumps out at the reader. Julie Anne Demel wrote her doctoral thesis on this subject at the European Doctoral College in Strasbourg. Although women are not in the forefront in European politics, some of them have nevertheless forged the destiny of Europe 'through their presence, their service, their actions and their commitment.' Back in the sixteenth century, Louise de Savoie and Marguerite of Austria joined forces to put an end to the war that was raging in Europe. What would have happened to Europe if Marie-Thérèse and the Marquise de Pompadour had not arranged the toppling of alliances? The author leads the reader to discover the literary salons of Fanny von Arnstein and Wilhelmine de Sagan and her sister Dorothée de Talleyrand-Périgord in Vienna, where European policy was forged. In the nineteenth century, this literary tradition continued and women's involvement in the struggle for a new Europe grew and grew. Although the right to vote played a crucial role in women's political commitment, it is in fact since the creation of the European Union that many women in Austria and France have got involved in the development of Europe. In 2007, nearly five hundred years after the Paix des Dames, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Cécilia Sarkozy confirmed this through their action in Libya…
(SD)
*** ERRATUM. An error slipped into the review of the book Demain, c'est loin by Marilena Koppa, published in issue 11077/1048 of European Library on13 May 2014. The correct email address is: mkoppa@otenet.gr.