PSLE 111

• Throughout its history Europe has been characterised much more by divisions, tensions, and conflicts than it has by any common purpose or harmony of spirit. This applies to Western Europe as much as it does to the European continent as a whole.
• Historical Divisions in Europe

  • Language
  • Religion
  • Political Divisions
  • Economic Divisions
• Language


  Has been perhaps the most obvious divisive force. Linguists may identify structural similarities between European languages, but the fact is that most peoples of Europe, including of Western Europe, have not been able to, until recently at least, directly converse with one another.
• Religion


  Northern Countries (Protestant) except Ireland and Southern Countries (Catholic) includes France but not Orthodox Greece.
• Political Systems of Major States in Western Europe during late 1930s


  • France (Weak Parliamentary System)
  • Germany (Nazi Dictatorship under Adolf Hitler)
  • Italy (Fascist Dictatorship under Benito Mussolini)
  • Spain (Conservative Military Democracy under General Franco)
  • UK (Strong Parliamentary System)
• Economic Divisions


  The economies of the northern countries (former mostly having substantial industrial bases) were increasingly differentiated from those of the south (remained predominantly agricultural and underdeveloped).
• Britain was industrially and commercially dominant.
• Characteristics of the Background to the Second World War

  • Sharp and fluid inter-state relations
  • No stable alliance power
  • No clear balance of power
  • European states regarded one another with suspicion
• From time to time in the inter-war period proposals for greater cooperation between European states were advanced, but little came of them.
• The international climate – characterised by national rivalries and clashing interests – was not favourable, and most of the leading advocates of closer linkages were seen as having, as indeed they did have, specific national purposes in mind.
• Aristide Briand


  He aims for a stable EUROPEAN political system that would preserve the 1919 peace settlement (Versailles Treaty)
• Gustav Stresemann


  He saw a way in which GERMANY could loosen the grip of Versailles and regain its position as a major power.
• League of Nations


  Established in 1919 to provide for international collective security and had some potential as a forum for developing understandings and improving relationships between the European states.
• Reasons for the failure of the League of Nations

  • Its aims were vague and interpreted in different ways
  • It was intergovernmental in structure therefore it is dependent on the agreements of all the member states before any action could be taken
  • States wanted different things from it
• France's view of the League of Nations


  Saw it as a means of preserving the Versailles status quo
• Germany and Italy's view of the League of Nations

  Wanted it to be used to change the 1919 settlement and were prepared to leave or ignore it if it did not serve that purpose
• Altiero Spinelli, one of the great advocates and architects of European integration, stated in 1985 that a major transformation has occurred in the political consciousness of Europeans, something which is completely new in their history. For centuries, neighbouring countries were seen as potential enemies against whom it was necessary to be on one's guard and ready to fight. Now, after the end of the most terrible of wars in Europe, these neighbours are perceived as friendly nations sharing a common destiny.
• Communism was the most obvious common threat and this led most significant Western European states to become members of the same military alliance: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
• With the communist danger now removed, Western security arrangements have been revamped to adjust to a situation in which Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) are now partners in both NATO and the EU and in which the main potential security concerns are seen as being of a different nature: Russian assertiveness, the bubbling national and ethnic tensions in parts of the former Soviet Empire, the turbulence of the Middle East, and the threat of international terrorism.
• High Policy issues


  Concerned with the existence and preservation of the state (such as territorial issues, balance of power manoeuvres, and defense considerations)
• Low Policy issues


  More concerned with the wealth and welfare of populations (such as policies on trade, monetary stability, environmental protection, and airline safety)
• By the mid-1950s representatives of Western European governments, and especially representatives from the six states that would become the founding members of the European Communities (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands), were engaging in detailed negotiations on policy matters – mainly economic policy matters – that would have been almost inconceivable to pre-war leaders.
• This development subsequently broadened and intensified, to the point that by the 1970s representatives of the European Community (EC) governments (numbering nine from 1973 when Denmark, Ireland, and the UK joined the European Union/Community) were meeting regularly to consider topics that a generation or two before would not even have been regarded as proper subjects for international negotiations.
• The traditional diplomatic means of inter-state communications – via Ministries of Foreign Affairs and embassies – have declined in importance as new channels and processes have become established.
• As with changing agendas, changing forms of inter-state communication were developed and utilised particularly quickly in Western Europe after the Second World War. Working often within the forums of newly created Western and Western European-based organisations, Western European governments were, from the late 1940s, in increasing contact with one another to discuss, and often negotiate about, a range of policy matters.
• This growing contact took a major step forward from the early 1950s when the European Communities were established and began functioning, for then representatives of the member states became increasingly enmeshed in collective institutions and policy-making processes on a daily basis.
• Explanatory approaches for post-war Western European cooperation and integration

  • The deep roots of European integration
  • The impact of the Second World War
  • The increasing importance of interdependence
  • The differing positions of Western European states
• Walter Hallstein's view


  Europe is no creation. It is a rediscovery. The main difference between the formation of the United States of Europe and that of the United States of America is not that America did not have to merge a number of firmly established nation-states, but that for more than a thousand years the idea of a unified Europe was never quite forgotten. Europe shares a sense of values, memories, achievements, joys and sufferings, and tomorrows.
• From the late eighteenth century national economic integration began to occur, as barriers to economic activity within states were dismantled. This helped to promote, and in turn was encouraged by, national political integration, which manifested itself in nationalism and in the elevation of the sovereign state to the status of the supreme collective unit.
• From the middle of the nineteenth century, the achievement and successes of this internal economic and political integration, allied with an increasing interconnectedness in Europe that followed from technological change and economic advance, resulted in increasing inter-state cooperation to promote trade, competition, and growth.
• The Second World War unquestionably marked a turning point in the Western European state system.
• Political factors that contributed to the post-war transformation

  • Combating nationalism
  • Establishment of the United Nations
  • The Hague Congress and the Council of Europe
  • Weaknesses of the Council of Europe
• The Statute of the Council of Europe, signed in 1949, was convinced that the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international cooperation is vital for the preservation of human society and civilization, and reaffirmed the devotion to the spiritual and moral values which are the common heritage of their peoples and the true source of individual freedom, political liberty and the rule of law, principles which form the basis of all genuine democracy.
• Throughout its history Europe has been characterised much more by divisions, tensions, and conflicts than it has by any common purpose or harmony of spirit. This applies to Western Europe as much as it does to the European continent as a whole.
• Historical divisions in Europe

  • Language
  • Religion
  • Political systems
  • Economies
• Language


  • Linguists may identify structural similarities between European languages, but the fact is that most peoples of Europe, including of Western Europe, have not been able to, until recently at least, directly converse with one another. (Fifty-six percent of Europeans now say they can hold a conversation in at least one foreign language.)
• Religion


  • Northern Countries (Protestant) except Ireland and Southern Countries (Catholic) includes France but not Orthodox Greece
• Political systems of major Western European states in late 1930s


  • France (Weak Parliamentary System)
  • Germany (Nazi Dictatorship under Adolf Hitler)
  • Italy (Facist Dictatorship under Benito Mussolini)
  • Spain (Conservative Military Democracy under General Franco)
  • UK (Strong Parliamentary System)
• Economic divisions


  • The economies of the northern countries (former mostly having substantial industrial bases) were increasingly differentiated from those of the south (remained predominantly agricultural and underdeveloped)
  • Britain was industrially and commercially dominant
• The background to the Second World War was characterized by sharp and fluid inter-state relations, no stable alliance power, no clear balance of power, and European states regarding one another with suspicion.