International History and the History of European Integration

International History and the History of European Integration address the question of Europe’s place in the world in the second half of the 20th century. The study of European Integration has been chosen by the Research Council of the EUI as a permanent project in the Department, and research in this field is conducted in part in association with the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies .

The approach to European integration places it in terms of wider processes of international developments, the recreation of the international order after the Second World War, the Cold War, the retreat from empire, and the problem of redefining the role of the nation-state. In the post-Cold War period, European integration and EU enlargement is studied in terms of the imperatives of managing transition to democracy in the post-communist states, and in relation to economic interdependence and globalisation processes.

A major theme is the institutional and normative developments of the EU as a political, economic and cultural project based on diversity and commonality, and the problem of defining the EU in relation to the wider concept of Europe and in its relations to the external world. We investigate the interplay among the regional, national, supranational, and external dimensions of the EC/EU.

A  related theme concerns the links between domestic policies and attitudes in the Member States and their impact at the Community level. This includes the study of changing identities, and changing notions of allegiance to national and supranational entities. 

A second theme is the study of the EU's external relations, in particular transatlantic relations. This involves the study of the geopolitical and security dimension of European integration, including the role of NATO, examining the perceptions, expectations and actions of external actors and the interaction of the EC/EU and their Member States with such external actors in a historical perspective. It throws new light on the evolution of the policies of external actors vis-à-vis European integration and cooperation in the economic, political, cultural, security and defence fields. It also tells us much about the evolution of the EC/EU polity, the nature of its presence on the international scene, its internal coherence and the legitimacy and efficiency of its institutions.

Research is also undertaken on public and private interest groups in the EC/EU, both at the national and the EC/EU level, including on European associations and promotion groups for Europe. One of the goals is to study specific networks in promoting the project of European construction.

Another part of the History of European Integration, under the direction of Prof. Bo Stråth, deals with Europe and the EU as a social area and to what extent welfare politics have had a European dimension transcending the Member States. The preconditions of such a European social dimension are analysed in a diachronic historical perspective. The question of Europeanisation of social equalities or inequalities is critically addressed, as is the question of Europe as a concept for political cohesion and action orientation and as a culture.

We encourage joint seminars, conferences and publications with the other departments, the RSCAS and the EU Historical Archives. In particular, doctoral candidates and fellows are advised to make use of the rich resources available at the European Union Historical Archives  in Florence.

The Professor with a research interest in the area is Kiran Patel (Joint Chair RSCAS/HEC)