Liberalism in Western Europe

Lecture 14 Oct 8, 2025

Liberalism at Regional Level

• One might say that liberalism on a global scale, as embodied in the UN, has NOT transformed International Politics

• Can Liberalism work on a smaller scale, that is, within particular regions then?

The transformation on Western Europe

• from 1865 to 1945 Western Europe was either preparing for or engaging in war.

• In 2025 it is hard to imagine Western European governments go to war against each other 

• During the last 80 years, international politics in Western Europe have been profoundly transformed. 

• Liberals vs Realists

John J Mearsheimer, Kenneth Waltz

Neo Realists

The Marshall Plan, 1947-1952

• The US concern

  • Economic deprivation will create support for communist parties in France and Italy

  • Solution

    • Aid oriented toward economic reconstruction

  • Condition

    • Intra-European cooperation- The organization for European Economic cooperation (OEEC)

The Schuman. Plan, 1950

• Problem:

  • Who would get German Ore and How much steel would Germany be Allowed to produce

• Solution:

  • Transnational Authority governing coal and steel production in W Germany France Italy and Benelux

    • Belgium

    • Netherlands

    • Luxembourg

The European Coal and Steel community (ECSC) founded in 1951 (treaty of Paris)

• Joined a rebel group in France to fight against nazi Germany

Deepening of Economic Integration

• Creation of the European Economic Community (EEX) after Treaty of Rome (1957)

• Promotes Economic Integration, particularity creation of a customs union, completed inn 1972 

• Creation of the European Union (EU) after Maastricht Treaty 1992

• Establishment of the European Central bank (ECB) 1998

• Introduction of the Euro, 2002 CF Denmark, Sweden,  Britain and others did not join. 

Original 6 

• West Germany

• Italy 

• France

• Belgium

• Luxembourg 

• Netherlands

Copenhagen Criteria

Copenhagen Criteria

1. Practice democracy

2. Practice capitalism

The EU Embedded in Wider Institutional Framework

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

  • Inlcuding Germany in the NATO

    • Keep the US in, Keep the USSR out, and keep the Germans down

    • Nato solved the scurtiy dilemma cause by Germany in the First Half of the 20th Century

• Organization for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD)

  • Origins lie in the Marshall Plan (OEEC)

  • Fostered Economic Cooperation in Europe and other countries

  • 20 founding members including Canada, the US, and Turkey in 1961

  • 18 more countries joined later

Three problems after World War II

1. pervasive Distrust, Particularly Franco-German Rivalry 

2. Economic Deprivation and Scarcity

3. Political Instability

Liberals argue that Process of European Integration helped”solve” these problems

The EU institutions

• Created an Institutional Framekwork for Repeated Ineraction

• Helped Transform Franco-German relationship from distrust into cooperation

• Balance of Power politics and Arms Races have disappeared

• Political competition within a rule-of -law- baed European Political systems have emerged in their place.

The realist Critique

• Liberalism us a shallow construct that stands up to neither logical not historical analysis

• Realist dynamics cause peace in powstawar Europe

  • Bipolarity and consequent weakness of Europe

  • Need to maintain alliance solidarity in face of soviet challeneg

  • Nuclear Weapons

• After the Cold War, erupe will relapse into realist dynamics

  • Shift to Multi-polar syste, which is less stable

  • no need to maintain alliance solidarity

  • result in more fluid and less secure state system

  • EU insitituionats, economic integration and democracy with not prevent a return to realist dynamics in Post-Cold War Europe

What’s at Stake in This Debate?

• Have European Politics Been Fundamentally and Enduringly Transformed?

  • If so, is the EU a Model that can be used to Resolve Conflicts in other Parts of the World such as the Former Yugoslavia?

  • If not, is Realism Right about the Impossibility of Changing the Basic Nature of International Politics (i.e., Anarchy)?

• Can Liberalism Provide Clues about the Causes of War and Peace Elsewhere in the World?

• War is Less Likely Where the Liberal Pillars are Present, and More Likely Where These Conditions Are Absent…