*** PIERRE GERBET (Ed.): Dictionnaire historique de l'Europe unie. André Versaille éditions (Centre Dansaert, 7 rue d'Alost, B-1000 Brussels. Internet: http://www.andreversailleediteur.com ). 2009, 1,213 pp, €49-90. ISBN 978-2-87495-022-3.
Common sense suggests that one has to know where one is coming from in order to know where one is going. In the preface to this historical dictionary of united Europe, Elie Barnavi elegantly confirms this, arguing that "study of the past is indispensable, not only to understand who we are, but also to know what we want to become". Nobody knows what Europeans want to do with their European Union because the plans and ambitions for the EU are so diverse and often contradictory. "Threatened with implosion from the massive enlargement rounds for which it was ill-prepared, torn between contradictory geopolitical visions and unclear about how to contain the twin threat of a return to nationalism here and the emergence of regionalism there, it floats from one crisis to another, like a ship tossed and turned on a choppy sea, apparently unable to provide its citizens with any meaningful horizons because it is unable to instil in them the slightest enthusiasm and esprit de corps without which nothing of any scale is possible," asserts Elie Barnavi, an Israeli historian. Treacherous talk? No, simply plain speaking. But all the same, the move towards unity based on "unity in European civilisation" is a historical fact going far back in time and which, despite any detours being taken at the moment and in the future, is destined to continue its course.
The aim of the editors and authors of this monumental tome is precisely to provide Europeans with a meaningful horizon. Under the leadership of Pierre Gerbet - who is the first to look systematically at the history of the European construction project - and his historian acolytes Gérard Bossuat (of Cergy-Pontoise University in France) and Thierry Grosbois (of Luxembourg University and Artois University), French and Belgian historians explore the various facets that have made Europe what it is today. Whether the authors would admit this or not, this Dictionary expresses an ideology because, as Barnavi points out, it implicitly states that the European Union is "a wonderful thing, and it is important to make this known so as to encourage European citizens to sign up to it". At the present day and in the light of the extremely low turnout for the European elections earlier this month, this is a health-restoring book and should be welcomed as such!
In a clear and scientifically backed manner, without jargon or over-simplification, the authors describe information and facts that have influenced the move towards unity in Europe, a move that is still under way. First, there are the people whose ideas and action encouraged the organisation of a united Europe, ranging from utopian thinkers and writers to activists and politicians capable of action. In the life of Konrad Adenauer, for example, arrested after a failed attempt on Hitler's life, "his internment in the Gestapo building at age of 68, where he heard the screams of the tortured, traumatised him to such an extent that it would keep him awake at night until the end of his life". Can the European ideals and commitment of Adenauer, who would go on to become the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, be understood without this information? Likewise, who is aware that French intellectual Raymond Aron, supposedly cool about the European project, said in a speech at Frankfurt University in 1952: "Men of action are those who bear in mind the spirit and meaning of a grand task amidst the mediocrity of daily life. The European Community or the Atlantic Community is not a subject about which one can be enthusiastic for only a day, instead it is the final aim of the work that gives meaning to a life and sets objectives for a generation"? It is excellent that this type of information is being recalled and it should be mulled over by all the "princes" governing Europe. In the same spirit, the authors describe the greater and lesser political ideologies that have influenced Europe, and European movements that have been organised to win over public opinion and put pressure on governments. There also the countries of Europe, including those which are not (yet) part of the European Union, whose specificities, attitude to the European project and role in the various European organisations are analysed with finesse and scientific rigor. To give an example, we learn here that Belgium, which is today a paragon of EU orthodoxy, fought in the past to ensure the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community was flanked by a Council of Ministers "in order to reduce the supranational character of the institutions"… There is also a historical description of the European policies implemented by the European institutions, and a razor-sharp assessment of these policies, how they developped, how they are organised and they interact with one another. For example, Pierre Gerbet describes the "apogee of the Commission" from Hallstein to Delors; followed by its "weakening (…) from Santer to Prodi,"; the Commission of "second choice" José Manuel Barroso being characterised by an "atomisation of powers, the tendency of Commissioners to work in isolation, coordination problems and a weakening of the collegiate aspects that were the Commission's defining characteristic and strength". This may not be to everybody's taste but this is clearly a lucid balance sheet that is being proffered up to citizens, to those who wish to see Europe make progress at least.
Michel Theys
*** JOSEF LANGER (Ed.): Forces Shaping the EU. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2008, 265 pp, €42-50. ISBN 978-3-631-57401-0.
As the European Union becomes the target of ever more scathing criticism from a growing number of its inhabitants, sociologists have attempted to highlight the forces shaping the EU (starting from its origins) and the direction it is moving in. This book edited by Prof. Josef Langer of Klagenfurt University considers the EU as a social science subject, looking back to its origins and first influences in order to define what it is today, how its genesis influenced its current structure and the extent to which such factors influence its direction and the choices it makes. The authors start by setting out what the European Union is exactly, explaining the aims and nuts and bolts of the harmonisation process, opening up reflection on its nature (Is it a super-state? A network of states? An empire?). This is followed by essays discussing the difficult issue of Europe's legitimacy, particularly with regard to the integration processes - that seem more suited to the ideas of some of the elite than to the ideas of Europe's inhabitants. They authors then look at effort to counteract this, particularly the attempts to set up a European civil society. The book also observes the various cultures that form the European Union, a revisited Tower of Babel, which is a particularly disabling characteristic for Europeanism.
(NDu)
*** MICHAEL WINTLE (Ed.): Europe and European Civilization as Seen from its Margins and by the Rest of the World, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Multi Europe Series", No. 42. 2008, 245 pp, €33-90. ISBN 978-90-5201-431-9.
The idea of identity is connected with what we are perceived not to be. We create an idea of what we are through how we feel we differ from others, and this idea is often not shared by others. The European Union is no stranger to this rule. Since the time of the Renaissance, Europe has created a collective identity that has generally been shared by its inhabitants. This book does not look at what Europe thinks of itself so much as what the rest of the world thinks of Europe. Edited by Michael Wintle, Professor of European History at Amsterdam University, the book's essays try to understand how the EU is viewed in the rest of the world. Before the nineteenth century and colonialism, Europe was largely unknown to the rest of the world. It was during its colonial period that it became known, and is still often perceived today, a fact that many in Europe seem to forget. The second area of analysis is what Europe would prefer to forget. As far as Europeans are concerned, Europe today is a symbol of democracy and respect for human rights, to such an extent that the EU looks down its nose at other parts of the world when these notions are not respected. But Europe tends to forget its all-too-recent past. Many people in the world believe that the European Union, which aspires to be a paragon of virtue, also, and more importantly gave rise to some very dark periods in history, like Nazism and Stalinism. The book then looks at the viewpoints of countries on the geographical fringes of the EU, like Turkey and the Balkans, and the meshing of Romantic European ideology and oriental influences from the Ottoman Empire that has given rise to a very specific idea of Europe in the European South-East. In the same spirit, the final essays look at Europe through the prism of other cultures, describing views from Latin America, China and the Arab world. This is a very rich work looking across the board at many domains. It will be fascinating for any readers interested in the rest of the world, and hence also in themselves.
(NDu)