Half a Loaf Is Better Than None: European Construction, National Interest, and Interdependence

This article focuses on European integration from a historical perspective, using the concepts of “national interest” and “interdependence” to analyse and interpret the transformations triggered by the intersecting forces of decolonisation and Cold War dynamics. The argument is structured in three parts: (a) The construction of the European Communities was initiated in the 1950s with the specific aim of gradually leading both the ruling elites and the societies of some European States to transcend the traditional notion of a “national interest”. The essay develops this idea by examining whether the concept of a “European interest” emerged or not, and whether it was helped or undermined by the enlargement waves of the 1960s and 1970s. (b) During the initial decades of European unification, the governing elites and societies in the participating states experienced a new dimension of international and transnational interdependence. However, traditional identity and relational patterns continued to influence their diplomatic behaviour. This article explores how interdependence coexisted with long-standing trends in the diplomatic action of European States during some phases of the Cold War, with particular reference to the 1960s. (c) In the security dimension of European integration, this essay sets the concepts of national interest and interdependence against a transatlantic background to understand how the US sought to harmonise these two notions in its broader global strategy, while decolonisation was simultaneously marking the decline of European traditional empires and setting the framework for the possible establishment of a new European “post-empire”. In conclusion, the end of the Cold War is identified as the crucial moment when, while the new European Union was outlined, the weakness of post-imperial discourse in European societies failed to restructure the transatlantic bond as well as the relationship between Europe and the world at a more mature and responsible level.