Europe in the Mind
Short description
European history cannot be fully understood without taking into account how people were contemplating about Europe. Therefore, we need an in-depth longitudinal intellectual history on the concept of Europe and the European idea.
This study presents an innovative narrative of the long-term effects of ideas. Based on a conceptual and transnational approach, it offers for the first time an assessment of the intellectual paths of the mindset for European integration that both comprises documents from 15 countries across Europe and common processes and developments, as well as conflicting political visions and dissimilar interests. Europe in the mind argues that the comprehension of Europe is a dynamic and dramatic interplay between the dreams of unity, longing for borders and fears for crisis. It assesses effects from the 19th century to the postwar on the concept of integration, debates on European identity, and the contemporary notion of crisis.