Converging Post-War European Discourse

This book explores the most important components and contributing factors to the European integration process during the 1950s. It seeks to combine comparative politics and political history to examine core themes such as war experience, national security, military security, economic security, societal security, and research and education in three major European countries, i.e. France, Germany, and Britain. It analyses the references to the ensuing European integration process in national parliamentary debates, analyzing which national needs were thought European integration could cater to, but also which national positions were seen as being compromised by a closer European commitment. The development of a national position on European integration and in turn the evolution of European concepts are considered by using discourse theory on parliamentary debates in France, Germany, and Britain.Parliamentary discourses are shown to be an ideal source for analyzing grand themes, such as European integration, because they cover all fundamental ideas; they have to be public and open-ended deliberations which in turn determined the position of each country towards European integration. The great variety of positions reflected in the parliamentary discourse, in particular those which did not prevail and which did not find their way into the commonly accepted historical storyline of European integration, provide a greater comprehensiveness and a better understanding of the history of the European integration process.

The process of European integration was far from harmonious, and entaled a complex adjustment between mutual misunderstandings and contested assumptions. By his subtle analysis of speeches, Thomas Hoerber offers new insights into the attitudes of France, Germany, and Britain at a crucial stage of European integration, when success could not be predicted—and the nature of any integration remained unclear. At a time when the meanings of European integration are once more contested, not least in Britain, Hoerber offers a nuanced account of the historical roots of national attitudes., This book provides an impressive analysis of post-war thinking about the pros and cons of European integration in Britain, France, and Germany. It shows how convergence among these countries emerged in spite of highly diverging perceptions of the past and visions for the future. A must read in times of crisis and ongoing controversies about the EU., A work of great merit, Hoerber's book draws together sources and literature from three distinct national backgrounds into a piece of truly European comparative historiography.

Thomas Hoerber is professor at the Centre of European Integration, LUNAM University, ESSCA – School of Management.