On 9 May 1950, France launched a revolutionary plan for supranational cooperation in Western Europe. The Netherlands was taken completely by surprise. In the decades that followed, European integration moved forward at an unprecedented pace, taking the Netherlands with it. Geography and the post-war world seemed to leave the country no other choice. European integration forced — and is still forcing — the Netherlands on a far-reaching ‘journey to the continent’. For the Netherlands, Europe...

Bringing together political, diplomatic, economic, cultural, and contemporary history, this book explores why and how European integration came to pass. It tells a fascinating story of ideals and realpolitik, political dreams and geographical realities, and planning and chaos. Mathieu Segers reveals that the roots of today's European Union lie deep in Europe's past and encompass more than war and peace, or diplomacy and economics. Based on original archival and primary source research, Seg...

What is Europe? This question is ever more pressing, as present day Europe wallows in crisis - its deepest since the process of European integration took off in the 1950s. The current state of affairs sets the stage for this book. It brings together leading international thinkers and scholars of different generations in a feverish quest to better understand Europe's present state. In their essays these authors engage in the paradoxes and puzzles of European identity and cu...

Volume II examines the history of the European Union from an inside-out perspective, focusing on the internal developments that shaped the European integration process. Split into three parts, Part I covers the principles that have defined European integration, exploring the treaties and their changes through time, with Brexit being a core milestone. Part II considers the different instruments within the architecture of European integration, with special focus on the development of policie...

Volume I examines the history of the European Union from an outside-in perspective, asking the following questions: how does the European Union look from the outside, and which outside forces shaped and guided the process of European integration? Split into three parts, the first addresses the main external events that have steered the European integration process, with emphasis placed on critical junctures following the Second World War, such as the division and reunification of Germany a...