Fabrice Larat
	Histoire politique de l'intégration européenne
	(1945-2003)
	127 S., Paris, La documentation Française, 2003.
	ISBN 2-11-005351-8

Abstract(deutsch):
Ziel dieses Buches ist es, klar und überschaubar die Geschichte des Zusammenwachsens Europas zu präsentieren, jenes Phänomen, das auch als Integrationsprozess bezeichnet werden kann. Dies erfolgt anhand systematischen Darstellungen der Rolle sämtlicher internationaler Organisationen und Kooperationsformen, die zur politischen und wirtschaftlichen Vereinheitlichung des Kontinents seit 1945 beitragen haben. Ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung wird dokumentiert und ihre Leistung/Wirkung bezüglich der europäischen Einigung bewertet. Hier geht es um die gesamteuropäische Perspektive, d.h. daß nicht allein die westeuropäische Integration, sondern auch die mittel und osteuropäische im Mittelpunkt stehen wird. Ein besonderer Augenmerk liegt auf der Interaktion zwischen der Entwicklung einzelner Organisationen bzw. der Entwicklung der zwischenstaatlichen Zusammenarbeit auf einer Seite und wichtigen politischen Ereignissen (Kalter Krieg, Entkolonialisierung, Zusammenbruch des Ostblocks) auf der anderen Seite. Außerdem werden die aktuellsten Entwicklungen der Integration, wie z.B. die Verträge von Amsterdam und Nizza berücksichtigt. Eine weitere Besonderheit dieses Buches ist, dass die Geschichte der Integration aus einer europäischen und nicht nationalen Perspektive erzählt wird.

Abstract (english):
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the European Union - the world's greatest economic power - is increasingly considered as a great power on the international scene. The rapid development of this different breed of actor is inseparable from the high level of confusion that has affected Europe and the world since 1989. Furthermore, along with the European Union, there is a whole series of organisations with varying levels of responsibility that are equally entitled to speak for Europe, or at least a good portion of its territory. In addition to the Union's increase in power and its enlargement to the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the entire Old Continent has undergone a reconstruction of its institutional landscape and a profound reorganisation since the end of the Cold War. These transformations not only affect the structure - i.e. a particular state's membership to certain international organisations - but also the competences and scope of these same institutions, of which some are experiencing a double dynamic, both deepening and widening. In contrast, formerly powerful organisations like the Warsaw Pact have disappeared and others, like the European Free Trade Association, have become quasi insignificant.
Although a unified Europe has become an economic and political reality, it is nonetheless comprised of a multitude of different features and structures. To truly understand the current situation, it has become essential to have in-depth knowledge of the evolution of the general phenomenon of collaboration between states and the creation of institutions since 1945. How did we arrive at this partial unification? What trends stand out; which forces confront each other; what reasons and mechanisms underlie it? In short, what is the process of integration that leads towards this unification? The answer to these crucial questions is the subject of this work. Due to their function and importance, the emphasis will be placed on the roles played by the different international organisations whose goal it is to promote European unity. This project will in particular allow us to compare the evolution of the relations between European states to major historical events such as the Second World War, the Cold War, East-West rapprochement of the 1970s and the collapse of the Socialist bloc.
The book hopes first of all to provide teachers and students, as well as all persons hoping to enhance their knowledge of this subject, with a general and concise interpretation of the political history of the European integration process. It is based on a conception of Europe as a whole (i.e. an approach that deals with the entire continent) and hopes to explain certain institutions' contributions to its partial unification. To do this, describing the process cannot be limited to Western Europe, as is often the case in manuals today, but must also take into account Eastern and Central Europe. Nevertheless, the special attention paid to Western Europe is understandable due to the fact that integration is most advanced in this part of the continent. It is here that certain organisations' development has attained a level unheard of in the history of international relations. Given that this work favours a more general approach, the analysis will concentrate on the various forms of integration that have emerged in both Western and Eastern Europe, as well as on the interactions between the different organisations in question. The successive steps of integration are presented in chronological in order to better highlight these interactions, although a look back is always possible for the sake of clarity.

Table des matières

Contents

Der Autor

Dr. Fabrice Larat ist 1966 geboren. Er hat Politikwissenschaft in Lyon studiert und Europawissenschaften in Genf. Am Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, bei Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Azéma hat er 1996 im Fach Geschichte des XX. Jahrhunderts promoviert. Seit 1994 arbeitet er an der Universität Mannheim, zuerst am Lehrstuhl für Internationale Beziehungen/Europäische Integration bei Prof. Dr. Beate Kohler-Koch und danach am Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung. Sowohl in der Lehre als auch in der Forschung beschäftigt er sich mit dem Thema Europäischen Integration und hat bereits über viele Aspekte dieses Themas veröffentlicht (siehe Veröffentlichungsliste).