Engineering European Unity

The Quest for the Right Solution Across Centuries

Éva Bóka

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9789633865989
• eBook ISBN: 9789633866016
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front matter
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: The Idea of European Unity, the Western System of Liberties, and the Dichotomy of Federalism versus Intergovernmentalism
• Chapter 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)
• Chapter 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
• Chapter 3 The Dilemma of Democratization of the Idea of European Unity (1789–1815)
• Chapter 4 The European Phenomenon of Nation State and National Empire, and the Chances of a European Federation (1815–1919)
• Chapter 5 The Crisis of Realization of the Western System of Liberties and the Idea of European Unity between the Two World Wars
• Chapter 6 Fight for a Democratic Europe
• Chapter 7 In Search of a New Europe: Three Alternatives
• Chapter 8 Realizing the Idea of European Unity in the Framework of the Council of Europe
• Chapter 9 Shaping the Supranational European Union
• Chapter 10 Outlook: Future Paths and Perspectives
• Chapter 11 The World and Europe (EU): Some Responses to the Challenge of European Modernity
• Chapter 12 Concluding Thoughts
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index
• Back cover