The Maastricht Treaty in 1992 was based on neoliberal ideas of a market-driven European economy and democracy, and continues to be seen as a step towards a new stage of unification: towards a more federal Europe based on market integration. The authors demonstrate that European integration as a federal project actually came to an end around 1970. The European Economic Community (EEC) - the precursor of EU - was never thought of as a democracy. The authors locate a shift in thinking about legitimacy and further integration in the 1980s when the idea of a European democracy was connected with a plan for the internal market: the market would pave the way for democracy. Since then, there has been a growing tension between the official line about a democratic EU and the institutional capacity to carry it through. This tension undermined integration. The book suggests that, instead of democracy-through-market, there are signs of increasing social disintegration, political extremism and populism in the wake of economic integration. Providing a more realistic historical understanding of European integration, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, history and European studies.

About the Author
Hagen Schulz-Forberg is Assistant Professor in International History, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Bo Strath holds a Chair in Nordic, European and World History at the Renvall Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland. He recently co-edited A European Memory? Contested Histories and Politics of Remembrance and European Solidarities: Tensions and Contentions of a Concept.

Reviews

The Political History of European Integration was shortlisted for the European Book Prize in 2011.

Book Information
ISBN 9780415502757
Author Hagen Schulz-Forberg
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 470g