European Integration History: Beyond the Crisis

Widely used by historians of European integration, the notion of “crisis” has frequently been associated with “relaunching” to describe the various steps in the evolution of European communities. This use betrays an implicit focus on the six founding members as well as a teleological temptation. As a result, the field of European integration history has been accused by its critics of being itself in crisis. Nowadays however, the methods and conceptual approaches of European integration history are being renewed through what the article labels the “history of European cooperation.”