While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades.

While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades.

Editorial Preface
Jane Caplan (Executive Editor), Timothy Garton Ash, Jürgen Kocka, Gerhard A. Ritter, Nicholas Stargardt, Margit Szöllösi-Janze

Introduction: European Integration: Success through Crises
Ludger Kühnhardt

Chapter 1. Sources of European Integration: The Meaning of Failed Interwar Politics and the Role of World War II
Wilfried Loth

Chapter 2. The Failure of EDC and European Integration
Manfred Görtemaker

Chapter 3. The Institutional Paradox: How Crises Have Reinforced European Integration
Jürgen Elvert

Chapter 4. Through Crises to EMU: Perspectives for Fiscal Union and Political Union
Jürgen von Hagen

Chapter 5. Opportunity or Overstretch? The Unexpected Dynamics of Deepening and Widening
Wolfgang Wessels and Thomas Traguth

Chapter 6. Learning from Failure: The Evolution of the EU’s Foreign, Security and Defense Policy in the Course of the Yugoslav Crisis
Mathias Jopp and Udo Diedrichs

Chapter 7. Challenges and Opportunities: Surmounting Integration Crises in Historical Context
Michael Gehler

Chapter 8. Frontiers and Chances for the European Union
Hans-Gert Pöttering

Select Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index