Post War and Eu Integration
Post-war and European Integration Europe in the period after 1945 has seen a significant, if progressively, shift towards cooperation over conflict. by the way in the wake of the Second World War, nations lay in tatters and the area was soon to be sectioned altogether in half with spheres of US and Soviet influence. Beginning with those nations to the west of the ‘Iron Curtain’, a new environment emerged in which leaders vowed never to allow such widespread destruction as occurred in the two ‘Great Wars’. From that stage a shooting sense of loyalty to one another has evolved; from ‘The Six’ head delegates into a foundation with a vast remit for control of mainly economic but ever progressively social and defence policies throughout its membership of 27 states. In the modern time the European Union is seems a world leader in terms of supra-national governance and integration (Kegley Jr. ’09, p177); with its single market and multilateral currency and with a growing sense of the prospects of the whole circle being entwisted. It is a model for other inter-governmental organisations in the East and South America (ASEAN, USAN etc.).
In Europe post -1945 there remained a tension between the traditionally opposing Allied and Axis powers as well as the new issue of Russian dominance in the East. The Red Army had marched in to Berlin, which was now divided in to four spheres of impact ; US, British, French and Soviet. The nations of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany amongst others had all fallen over the control of the Western Powers and the continent was more subdivided than ever. The idea of the all-powerful nation state had been downfallen and the main actors of the mainland; namely France and Germany, were keen to build closer relations (Pinder 1998, p3). For France this was as much to limit the power of the German state as for progress of their own. The idea of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was invented by Jean Monnet as a
In Europe post -1945 there remained a tension between the traditionally opposing Allied and Axis powers as well as the new issue of Russian dominance in the East. The Red Army had marched in to Berlin, which was now divided in to four spheres of impact ; US, British, French and Soviet. The nations of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany amongst others had all fallen over the control of the Western Powers and the continent was more subdivided than ever. The idea of the all-powerful nation state had been downfallen and the main actors of the mainland; namely France and Germany, were keen to build closer relations (Pinder 1998, p3). For France this was as much to limit the power of the German state as for progress of their own. The idea of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was invented by Jean Monnet as a
Bibliography: Art, R. J. (2007) Why Western Europe needs the United States and NATO. The Political Quarterly, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK. Burgess, M. (1991) Federalism and European Union. Routledge, London, UK. Churchill, W (1946) Speech at Zurich 19/09/1946 sourced from Weigall, D. and Stirk, P. (1992) The origins and development of the European Community. Leicester University Press, UK. Kegley Jr., C. J. (2009) World Politics; Trend and Transformation. Cengage Learning, CA, USA. Ross, G. (2009) ‘Politics and Economics in the Development of the European Union’ in Kesselman, M. and Krieger, J. (2009) European Politics in Transition. Cengage Learning, CA, USA. Pinder, J. (1998) The building of the European Union. Oxford University Press, UK. Senior Nello, S. (2009) The European Union: Economics, Policies and History. McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire, UK. Taylor, J. (2007) Motives for European Integration Since 1945 taken from http://www.helium.com/channels/565-Politics-in-Europe Weigall, D. and Stirk, P. (1992) The origins and development of the European Community. Leicester University Press, UK. WW2 History (2011) taken from http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/world-war-2-statistics.asp on 21/12/201