Conf.: European Integration and the Cold War, 1945-1989

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Author:Tobias Reckling, University of Portsmouth

THORSTEN BORRING OLESEN (Aarhus University) opened the conference therefore with a keynote lecture on "Entangled World and Worlds Apart. The Cold War and European Integration". Olesen stressed that the Cold War conditioned and influenced the process of European integration while at the same time many dynamic features of the European integration developed independently. This relationship led for Oelsen to the question of what the Cold War was actually about in Europe. In this context, he argued for the importance of three areas of study: First, a layer where clearly a Cold War dimension is - although in a very general sense - of central importance but framed in non-Cold War terms; second,
areas in which Cold War goals and priorities were explicitly stated
(such as in the Fouchet Plan) and third, analyses of changes in the
process of European integration which were conditioned or generated by Cold War pressure (such as the Schumann Plan and the creation of the European Political Community).

The first panel of the conference concentrated on "Federalism, European Integration and the Cold War". By analysing two journals published by the Italian Movimento Federalista Europeo between 1947 and 1948, PAOLO ORLANDO FERRARA (University of Trento) showed in the first presentation how the context of the Cold War shaped the objectives of the European Federalist Movement under Altiero Spinelli and its conceptions of Europe's future role in the international community. Also the second paper in this panel was dedicated to early years of the Cold War and the Federalist movement. MEHMET CEVAT YILDIRIM (University of Istanbul)
concentrated on the influence of the Soviet Union under Stalin on the policies adopted by the Union of European Federalists (UEF). In that context, Yildirim highlighted how the early attempts of the UEF to found a World Federation were abandoned in favour of a "begin from the West" strategy after Stalin's regime had proven to be less cooperative than expected. Furthermore, by stressing the strong influence that the federalist project of a European Political Community had on political leaders during the Stalin period, Yildirim also showed how this was undermined by the further development of the Cold War.

Rather than concentrating on the importance of specific movements for the European integration, the second panel was dedicated to "Media and the Construction of the Cold War Europe". Based on the analysis of 116 films which were produced as part of the Marshall Plan (MP) information campaign, MARIA FRITSCHE (University of Southampton) discussed in her paper how Europe and the ideological confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union were presented in these films. She argued that although the films were a powerful propagandistic tool, the Cold War was hardly directly addressed. Instead, the European filmmakers mainly concentrated
in their films on a positive portrayal of the American way of life and
effects of European cooperation in the Marshall Plan.

The third panel was dedicated to the "Rearmament of Europe" and was opened with a presentation by BJÖRN FLEISCHER (University of Bremen). Fleischer concentrated on the failed attempt to establish the European Defence Community (EDC) in 1954 as one of the central puzzles in the history of European integration. By adopting the concept of "two-level games" from political science and stressing the importance of ideas in decision making, Fleischer focused on the importance of the internal situation in France and the international context. He considered especially the question of German rearmament and the War in Indochina and Korea as central to explain the failure of the EDC and the surprisingly smooth success of the Western European Union right afterwards. After Fleischer, SANDRA EISENEECKER presented a jointly with
MARC DEVORE (University of St. Gallen) authored paper on European and transatlantic armament collaboration. Eisenecker argued for the division of the historic record of transatlantic and European armament institutions in three phases. While the first phase (1949-1962) was shaped by the US, who dictated the format and character of multinational armaments institutions with limited mandates but concrete goals and adequate resources, the second phase (1967-89) was characterized by the creation of European organizations. Finally, Eisenecker stressed that during the third phase (1990-present), strategic differences between the US and Europe, combined with competition for export markets, prompted
European states to create stronger armaments organizations with an increasingly European character.

After this discussion of European rearmament, the next panel was
dedicated to "Integration and the Cold War beyond Core Europe". EIRINI KARAMOUZI (London School of Economics) concentrated in her paper on the policy of the US and the EEC towards Greece during its transition to democracy in the 1970s. Karamouzi suggested that after the crisis in transatlantic relations, the EEC and the US cooperated during the democratization of Greece and developed a working division of labour both on the economic and security level. This renewed cooperation with the US and the acceptance of Greece into the Community resulted in a strengthened position of the EEC on the world stage.

Also the fifth panel concentrated on the 1970s as a crucial decade for the study of European integration and the Cold War. In the first
presentation of this panel, MARIE JULIE CHENARD (London School of Economics) aimed to challenge the common view that the Cold War and Western European integration during the 1970's were two distinct processes by choosing the EEC's opening to the  Peoples Republic of China as a case study. She highlighted that the conclusion of a trade agreement with China proved that the Community played the role of a Third Force during the international détente. Moreover, she stressed that for the European Parliament and the Commission driving the European détente was also an instrument to increase their role within the Community. The growing presence of the EEC as an international actor in the 1970s was also highlighted in the second paper of the panel. SUVI KANSIKAS (University of Helsinki) discussed in her paper the European
integration in the Cold War context from the perspective of Eastern
Europe. She argued that the implementation of the Common Commercial Policy in 1969 and the first enlargement in 1973 forced the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and its member states to accept the EEC as a political actor with which they would have to deal.

The last panel of the first day was dedicated to the actual "Creation of a European Foreign Policy". In the first presentation, KAI HEBEL (St. Antony's College, Oxford) presented a jointly with TOBIAS LENZ (St. Antony's College, Oxford) authored paper. Their main aim was to stress the central importance which Cold War politics played for the process of identity formation within the EEC and its externalization in a common foreign policy. In this context, Hebel highlighted that it was not before the 1960s that for the first time an internal consensus on the values that formed a European political identity of the Community was formulated. Hebel argued that this identity formation was a response to two external challenges: the application of authoritarian Spain under
Franco for associate membership in 1962 and the coup of the generals in Greece in 1967. However, so Hebel furthered, it were Western Europe's instrumental interests, flowing from Cold War politics, which shaped the ways in which this common identity was externalised. In the second presentation of this panel, SARA TAVANI (Luigi Sturzo Institute, Rome) discussed in how far the growing crisis of the bipolar détente between the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s influenced the formation of a common European Foreign policy - and could therefore be seen as the very origin of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. By choosing the
common European stance on the Polish crisis of 1980-1981 as a case study, Tavani showed how the major EEC-member states developed a common "European Polish Policy". As part of the European détente this common stance was orientated towards shared efforts to keep the dialogue with Eastern European leadership alive - and was therefore partly conflicted with the America position. Tavani argued that this strengthened the
EEC's ability to act as a foreign policy player with a common voice.

The second day of the conference started with a round table discussion with THORSTEN BORRING OLESEN (Aarhus University), WOLFRAM KAISER (University of Portsmouth), BRIGITTE LEUCHT (University of Oxford) and LINDA RISSO (University of Reading). By concentrating on transatlantic
relations and highlighting recent trends in the historiography of the
Cold War, Leucht underlined the importance of further research on the early history of European integration and the role of ideas and
transatlantic networks for the promotion of these ideas. After
furthermore stressing the problematic specification of concepts such as ideas and networks, Leucht also called for a more differentiated account of the nuances of US foreign policy towards Europe in the early Cold War. Also Kaiser pointed to the importance of networks for a better understanding of European integration - although in more European perspective. He argued that while further study is needed on the "Europeanization of Europe" and how European states were able to develop a kind of independence in the context of the Cold War, research should be done on the social relations in exclusively European networks as well as the institutional context. As a second area of study Kaiser discussed
the social links and connections with Eastern Europe and its
supranational organizations during the Cold War. Following this, Risso shifted the focus again back to the transatlantic level by stressing the importance of an area of research that has not perceived much attention so far: the ways in which NATO dealt with anti-communist propaganda and how intelligence and propaganda came together in an international organization. Finally, Olesen highlighted the European involvement in development aid during the Cold War as an important area of study for further research. He argued that while historical studies of development aid have concentrated mainly on the US, the issue became of importance
for Europe especially after the first enlargement.

After the round table the first two panels were dedicated to European integration during the Cold War and its relation to specific European regions, which were not or only partly members of the EEC. The first panel on "Scandinavia, European Integration and the Cold War" was opened by ARYO MAKKO (Stockholm University). By choosing Sweden as a case study, Makko started his presentation with a brief outline of Sweden's strict neutrality and its defensive line of foreign policy in the post-war period. After that, he concentrated on the shift towards an "active foreign policy" in the 1960s under the new prime minister Olof Palme. However, Makko further argued, while Sweden indeed started to play a more active role on a global level especially within the UN, this more offensively-minded profile in foreign policy did not apply to Europe. Instead of focussing on a specific country, HALLAVARD KVALE
SVENBALRUD (University of Oslo) concentrated in the second paper of the panel on the connection between European integration and Nordic UN cooperation between 1972 until 2000. Following a brief discussion on how the Nordic countries developed a strong pattern of cooperation within the UN after the Second World War, he addressed his central question of how this intense cooperation was influenced by the process of European integration. In this context, he argued that although Denmark entered the EEC in 1973, the Nordic cooperation within the UN did not change substantially during the 1970s and 1980s. It was not before the end of
the Cold War, when also Finland and Sweden joined the EU in the 1990s, that the Nordic group's centre of gravity shifted towards Europe.

Moving from North to South, the following panel focused on "Southern Europe and Integration during the Cold War". STEVEN ROBINSON (Newcastle University) adopted in his paper the perspective of historical institutionalism to examine Portuguese foreign policy in the second half of the 20th century to explain its accession to the EEC. In this context, he argued that Portugal's strongly Atlantic orientated foreign policy and especially its membership of NATO in 1949 prompted Portugal's later participation in Western European projects such as the Marshall
Plan and the EFTA. Therefore, Robinson furthered, could also Portugal's accession to the EEC after the end of the dictatorship be interpreted as an institutional path-dependency in foreign-policymaking.

In the last panel of the conference, JANICK MARINA SCHAUFELBUEHL (University of Georgetown, Washington DC) focused on questioning the common statement that Washington's early policy towards European integration has been mainly motivated by political concerns and therefore accepted economic sacrifices. In this context, Schaufelbuehl argued that the process of European integration was seen from the beginning on also as economically advantageous for the US. She especially stressed the interest of non-state actors such as American business circles in the European market. The last paper of this HEIRS-conference was presented by AURÉLIE ÉLISA GFELLER (European University Institute, Florence). The main focus of her research is to probe the interconnections between European integration and the Cold War
through the lens of the European Political Cooperation (EPC) with a
special emphasis on the French position. Gfeller argued that the
superpower détente in the 1970s renewed concerns over the US power and spurred the French government under Pompidou to strengthen the EPC in order to foster the EEC's international role. By choosing Europe's Middle-Eastern and Arab diplomacy as the key topic of her argument, Gfeller showed how the French government used especially the EPC to challenge the superpowers in the Middle East in 1973-74.

Altogether this sixth HEIRS conference can be seen as a success. The presentations were demonstrating the variety of ongoing research on the links between European Integration and the Cold War. However, the inspiring keynote lectures and the roundtable discussion stressed the need for further academic investigation in this important field of study. At the same time, they were also indentifying topics and methodological approaches, where this future research on European Integration and the Cold War could concentrate on.

Sources.

Website: H-Soz-u-Kult