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'Europe' and the Origin of the European Union

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'Europe' and the Origin of the European Union 378 © E Enke Verlag Stuttgart Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Jg. 23, Heft 5, Oktober 1994, S. 378-387 The Idea of ’Europe’ and the Origin of the European Union - A Sociological Approach Richard Swedberg Stockholm University, Department of Sociology, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden A b stract: According to the scholarly literature on the origin of the European Union, EU traces its beginnings to ev­ ents during the years just after World War II and possibly also to various economic and political events during the inter­ war period. But there also exist a number of works which are often ignored in the academic debate and which claim that the European community has a very much more distant past - often stretching as far back as the Middle Ages or even to Antiquity. These works, which have developed into a discourse of their own, look at the development of what they call “the European Idea“ and how this has developed over the centuries. This article presents and analyzes the discourse on the European Idea, mainly with the help of Emile Dürkheim’s notion of “collective representations“. It is argued that there exist interesting affinities between this discourse and the type of collective representations that Dürkheim was very interested in towards the end of his life, namely community creating collective representations. The works on the European Idea, it is claimed, often exaggerate how far back one can trace the European community. They nonetheless have an important contribution to make to the standard literature on the origin of EU through their emphasis on the role of ideas, ideals and cultural symbols. A united Europe is not a modern expedient, ignored in the academic debate and which claim be it political or economic, but an ideal which that today’s EU has a much more distant origin, as has been accepted since thousands of years by illustrated by the quote at the beginning of this ar­ the best spirits of Europe, namely those who ticle. These works look at what they call “the Eu­ can see into the future. Already Homer de­ ropean idea“ and its development over the centu­ scribed Zeus as “europos“ - an adjectiv ries. Often they claim that the idea of a European meaning “one who sees very far“. community goes as far back as the Middle Ages - Denis de Rougemont, and sometimes even to Antiquity. One thing that is Vingt-huit siecles d ’Europe (1961) interesting with this latter type of literature is that it focusses more or less exclusively on the impact of ideas, ideals and cultural symbols as opposed to It is usually claimed that the European Union the more hardnosed political and economic forces, (EU) traces its beginnings to the years just after which play a key role in the standard literature on World War II and possibly also to various political- the emergence of EU. In this article I shall first economic developments during the interwar peri­ present the literature on the European idea and od.1 A recent and very valuable contribution to the then try to determine to what extent works of this literature on this subject is, for example, Coal, type can complement our understanding of the ori­ Steel and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945-1955 by John gin of EU. In assessing this type of discourse I shall Gillingham, where it is argued that the European primarily be relying on Emile Dürkheim’s sociolo­ Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) represents a gy, especially his theory of how a society is consti­ solution to the so-called Ruhr problem. But there tuted via symbols or “collective representations“. I also exists a number of works which are often will in particular try to determine if the European idea itself can be understood as one of these com­ munity creating symbols (or collective representa­ 1 This paper has been written with help from HSFR in tions) that Dürkheim was so fascinated by.2 Stockholm and Centre Culturel Suedois in Paris. For the idea that one may use Dürkheim’s notion of collec­ tive representations when analyzing the European 2 The concept of collective representation can be found idea, I thank Cecilia Gil-Swedberg. I also would like to in Durkheim’s work from its very beginning. The two thank Jean-Baptiste Duroselle and Francois Fontaine places where Dürkheim deals the most extensively for kindly answering my questions. - The standard with this concept are, however, “Representations indi­ works on the beginning of the European Union in­ viduelles et representations collectives“ (1898) and clude Haas ([1958] 1968), Diebold (1959) and Milward Formes elementaires de la vie religieuse (1912). In the (1984). - The quote at the beginning of this article co­ former of these Dürkheim emphasizes the differences mes from Rougemont ([1961] 1990: 8). between individual or non-social representations, on Richard Swedberg: The Idea of ’Europe’ and the Origin of the European Union 379 1. The Birth and Development of a The notion that one could trace something called New Discourse: Studies on the European the European idea throughout history quickly Idea (1940s-) caught on, and during the 1950s three major works in this genre were produced: Heinz Gollwitzer’s The very first work on the European idea appeared Europabild und Europagedanke (1951), Denys in 1947 and was written by the Italian historian Fede­ Hay’s Europe: The Emergence of an Idea (1957) rico Chabod (1947). Its title was “L’idea di Europa“ and Carlo Curcio’s Europa, storia di un’idea and the article represented the author’s installation (1958).3 Gollwitzer, who was mainly interested in lecture at the University of Rome. Chabod (1947:3) the development of the European idea in 18th and said that when studying the European idea one has 19th century Germany, emphasized that writing to begin by looking at “the origin of the concept of about the European idea must not be confused Europe“. And to decide the time of “the birth of Eu­ with writing the history of Europe. For the former rope“, one would have to know when Europe be­ task it was necessary to focus on “perceptions of came conscious of itself. What mattered was not so Europe as a family of nations, a cultural unity and much Europe as a geographical concept - much a political community of fate“ (“Europabild“) and more central were “the political Europe, the cultural also on “specimen of European consciousness as a and moral Europe“. Of particular importance in community as well as proposals for organizing this tracing the history of the European idea, Chabod continent“ (Europagedanke“; Gollwitzer 1951a: added, was to realize that a concept always emerges 8). While Gollwitzer saw his analysis as a straight­ in opposition to some other concept. “The concept forward history of ideas, Hay tried to analyze the of Europe is formed by counterposition to all that is emergence of the notion of Europe with the help not Europe, and it acquires its characteris­ of what Marc Bloch has called “historical seman­ tics. .through a confrontation with what is not Eu­ tics“.4 For all practical purposes, however, the ana­ rope“ (Chabod 1947:4). In his analysis of the idea of lyses of Hay and Gollwitzer were quite similar in Europe Chabod began with Antiquity and contin­ that both presented themselves as professional his­ ued till World War I. He paid particular attention to torians while emphasizing the importance of what he called “the European Republic of Letters“, studying the European idea as a specific form of that is, thinkers such as Machiavelli, Montesquieu consciousness. The approach of Carlo Curcio in his and Voltaire. This Republic of Letters constituted enormous 2-volume work Europa, storia di un’idea the essence of Europe to Chabod as well as his own, is in contrast more idealistic. According to Curcio personal ideal. (1958:5), “Europe is above all an idea“ and it is ex­ tremely hard to isolate an idea of this type (“Can the one hand, and social or collective representa­ you weigh a soul?“). In order to get closer to the tions, on the other hand. In Formes elementaires essence or to the vital core of the European idea, it Dürkheim investigates what he sees as the very close was particularly important to look deeply into “the connection between the emergence of collective rep­ thoughts and colors with which it has been formu­ resentations in states of so-called “collective effer­ lated“. vescence“ and the creation of a new community. (See During the 1960s the discourse on the European Dürkheim 1974; [1912] 1965: 427-8,475-6,483,493). The secondary literature on collective representa­ idea continued to be popular. Chabod expanded tions is relatively small. For a very interesting at­ his essay into a book and both Gollwitzer and Hay tempt to analyze the epistemological dimension of revised and reissued their studies.5 A few new im­ collective representations, see Mestrovic (1988); and portant works were also published, including Den- for an equally interesting attempt to focus on the cultural-communal aspect of Durkheim’s concept, see Alexander 1988). As the reader will see, this arti­ 3 Both Gollwitzer and Hay have summarized much of cle emphasizes - like Dürkheim in Formes elementai­ their arguments in articles. See Gollwitzer (1951b) and res and Alexander in Durkheimian Sociology - the Hay (1957b). Other works on the European idea from community aspect rather than the epistemological the 1950s include Bonnefous (1950) and Fischer dimension of collective representations. - For anoth­ (1957). er attempt to apply Durkheim’s theory of collective 4 Bloch defined this term (which he had found in Fustel representations to the birth of the European Union, de Coulanges) as the historical study of meanings.
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