Reading Paper 3: “A Ferment of Change”

Allison Brown 4215: European Union Dr. Anderson 9 February, 2021 Reading Paper 3: “A Ferment of Change” Author: Jean Monnet (1888-1979) - A French diplomat and political economist who was an essential voice in economic planning after WWII including the Schuman Plan. Monnet also served on the Inter-Allied Maritime Commission and later as deputy secretary for the League of Nations. Monnet is credited with giving Winston Churchill the push for a Franco-British union. In (1943) was sent to Algiers to work with the “Free French” administration, which would eventually unify French resistance forces in their struggles against Germany. Date: 1962, was a formative year for independence around the globe. Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad & Tobago all become independent. With Monnet’s own work, France transferred sovereignty to the new republic of Algeria (July 3). Across the Atlantic, President Kennedy was facing challenges with the Cuban Missile Crisis, showing the USSR’s hand in global politics and a standoff between the two global superpowers. Published: In the academic “Journal of Common Market Studies”. This publication is a bimonthly peer reviewed journal covering political and economical issues pertaining to European integration, it is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of UACES or the academic association for Contemporary European Studies. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in London, the registered charity supported by the Erasmus+ Program of the EU states its object is, “to advance education for the public benefit through the promotion of teaching and research in contemporary European Studies.” (UACES website) Thesis: To avoid further destruction like that of WWI and WWII, the past fifty years in the region must be reflected on in order to change with men/nations learning how to control their relations with other states including through collaborative institutions, especially economic ties. Gist: No one on Earth was able to escape the violence and impacts of WII. Much has changed for humankind since the turn of the century, and even more is to change before its end. Populations are rising dramatically and science/development is rising to meet it. WWII “was the greatest threat humanity has ever had to deal with” (203), Monnet warns that even though conflict is over, it cannot be assured that further conflicts will be avoided entirely and that with warfare now, it's no longer a means of peace or war but one of total nuclear annihilation. Countries around the world are gaining independence, changing the game in international relations. Regardless of WWII and a changing world, Europe was able to economically unite with the Common Market “which is laying the foundations for political union.” (204) In order to Europe to unify and face the challenges of the 20th century, there must be a priority of education, collaboration across the Atlantic, and a push to achieve a European Political Union. Monnet cannot advocate enough for a politically unified Europe closing with, “European unity is the most important event in the West since the war, not because it is a new great power, but because the new institutional method it introduces is permanently modifying relations between nations and people.” (211) Telling Examples: 1) Priority of Higher Education - Monnet insists that economic integration will not be fully successful unless higher education is available to all youth in Europe. Only then will the next generation of Europeans be able to fully contribute and progress European interests in the Common Market. 2) Achieving a Political Union - Monnet believes that the political union of Europe will progress “step by step”, which will one day lead to a “European Federation”. Additionally, no state in Europe can effectively create change or act alone independently on the world stage with continuing European integration, their power is being consolidated as a region. 3) Europe and the US must collaborate - Monnet notes that “problems are arising that only Europe and the United States together have the resources to deal with”, among those problems is the needed to develop policies that sustain growth, increasing aid from the “west” to the “developing world”, and cooperation across the Atlantic is in the world’s best interest if we “are to escape destruction”. Allison Brown 4215: European Union Dr. Anderson 9 February, 2021 Criticism: Monnet’s push for a unified Europe that starts with a Common Market and leads to political unification is logical, how economic unification will lead to total European unification. Especially with the recency of WWII and the escalation between the US and USSR surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis, the arguments using academic pathos to appeal to fear of nuclear conflict and global violent engagement.