“European Academy” or “europäische Akademie” ?

This article studies the development of “European Studies” in Germany since 1945. The quantitative importance of German scholar publications about Europe, leads to the analysis of the factors that favoured an early institutionalization of “European Studies” in Germany. Among them, the existence of significant public support for a “political education” (politische Bildung) on national and European Affairs, but also the means available for the structuring of an active European federalist movement around Europa Union Deutschland and its satellite organizations, are essential for understanding the German rooting of the “European Academy” and “European studies” in general.