Engineering European Unity: The Quest for the Right Solution Across Centuries

by Éva Bóka

Overview

Which European and non-European ideas and practices facilitated the shaping of European unity? Or rather, which pursuits led to deadlocks in the cooperation between states?

The book seeks answers to these questions by surveying the historical attempts at realizing supranational patterns of governance in Europe since the Middle Ages. The main focus is on the nineteenth and twentieth century organizational models of European unification.

The analysis draws on an abundance of historical and legal source material. While the author encourages critical thinking about European integration, the exploration is admittedly based on specific values. Éva Bóka claims that the struggle for the humanization of power with its democratic creative force has been the major driver in the development of the system of liberties and the idea of European unity. The analysis of the historical process up to the Lisbon Treaty (2007) with the recognition of common, shared, and supported competences meets the author’s set of values to a great extent. The last part of the book examines whether the European Union can serve as a political and economic organizational model for other parts of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789633865989
Publisher:	Amsterdam University Press
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Edition description:	1
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Éva Bóka, PhD, Dr Habil, is researcher in history. She was lecturer at Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary, and at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. Her researches, publications, and courses cover four major fields: 1. The history of early-modern European diplomacy and the relationship of Europe with the Ottoman Empire; 2. Central European and Hungarian political thinkers on the democratization of the states and international relations; 3. The history of the idea of European unity, the history of European integration and the history of Europe’s (EU’s) relations with the world. 4. Modernization (democratization) of the states and the international relations in the Western World and East Asia (the United States, Europe (EU), China, Japan, and South Korea). She is the author of several books and articles on the history of Europe and the Ottoman Empire; the idea of European unity; the history of the European integration policy; and Europe’s (EU’s) relations with the world.

Table of Contents

Preface, Introduction: The Idea of European Unity, the Western System of Liberties, and the Dichotomy of Federalism versus Intergovernmentalism, 1 The Most Important Achievements of the Idea of European Unity in the Field of State and International Organization before the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), 2 A New Democratic Constitutional Federal State in Opposition to Feudalism and Colonization: The Constitution of the United States of America (1787) and Its Influence in Europe, 3 The Dilemma of Democratization of the Idea of European Unity (1789–1815), 4 The European Phenomenon of Nation State and National Empire, and the Chances of a European Federation (1815–1919), 5 The Crisis of Realization of the Western System of Liberties and the Idea of European Unity between the Two World Wars, 6 Fight for a Democratic Europe, 7 In Search of a New Europe: Three Alternatives, 8 Realizing the Idea of European Unity in the Framework of the Council of Europe, 9 Shaping the Supranational European Union, 10 Outlook: Future Paths and Perspectives, 11 The World and Europe (EU): Some Responses to the Challenge of European Modernity, 12 Concluding Thoughts, Bibliography, About the Author, Index

Editorial Reviews

"This is an intellectual history of plans for creating institutions to implement the idea of a European unity. Bóka does not focus on the history of the idea of Europe or the idea of European unity but rather lists and compares the plans for institutions that were developed since the Middle Ages to realize supranational forms of governance in Europe. This survey is rich and goes into many lesser known details. The analytical point in evaluating the plans is to what extent they could, or – if they were never implemented, according to the assessment of the author – could have guaranteed a Europe-wide functioning of the Western system of liberties. This book teaches us a highly topical lesson about the limits and possibilities of constructing institutions of European integration."

—Attila Pók

From the Publisher