History of European Integration

Teacher(s)

Tousignant Nathalie;

Language

English

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

Since the departure of Jacques Delors as President of the Commission it is possible to discern a certain nostalgia for the years he was at the helm, both among Europeans generally, and active stakeholders. The main objective of this course is to provide an account of developments in the European ‘project’, and more precisely the ECSC up to 1994. The course adopts the perspective taken in the English-language literature in relation to this period (see recommended reading list), and underlines the way that the developments in question occurred at the same time as the academic perspectives about them were constructed. By so doing, the course seeks to avoid a hagiographic and/or deterministic interpretation of the last 60 years. Through a close analysis of the crises and fresh beginnings that characterised these decades, students from various disciplinary backgrounds will be better able to understand the complexity of European union institutions, and their place in the fabric of Europe.

Content

The course draws on case studies that are sequenced chronologically and analysed through three distinctive lenses : the raw facts involved, their historiographical fortune, and their depictions.

1. 1950-1954 : the launch of the ECSC, an ambitious project in the context of the Cold War
2. 1955-1957 : crisis and relaunch at Messina
3. 1958-1969 : the ‘de Gaulle’ years and the Hague relaunch
4. 1969-1984 : enlargement, the 1973 crisis, eurosclerosis, euroscepticism : the search for a fresh impetus ?
5. 1984-1994 : the Fontainebleau relaunch and the Delors years
6. post 1994 : the legacy of Jacques Delors

Teaching methods

Ex cathedra presentations.

The course draws on essential documents, which may be consulted via the « European Navigator » (www.ena.lu) website.

Evaluation methods

Written examination

Other information

None

Bibliography

Dinan, Desmond (ed.). Origins and Evolution of the European Union. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Moravscik, Andrew. The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose & State Power from Messina to Maastricht. Cornell University Press, 1998.

Faculty or entity

PHLB