Review: Globalization in Historical Perspective
| Author | Grahame F. Thomson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000435 |
| Date | 01 December 2005 |
| Published date | 01 December 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
| International Journal | Autumn 2005 | 1193 |
| Reviews |
of European unification. Emerging from World War II, European politicians
“wanted above all to end international strife, foster social harmony, and pro-
mote economic well-being.” But he is also careful to say this was not
inevitable. “European politicians were (and still are) instinctively adverse to
sharing national sovereignty, despite rhetorical flourishes to the contrary”
and only shared sovereignty “primarily because they perceived that it was in
their countries’ (and therefore their own) interests to do so” (1).
Monnet, Hallstein, and Delors figure strongly in the narrative, but
Dinan is attentive not only about to successes but also their miscalculations.
Nor is the construction that emerged perfect or even desirable. “Lacking a
clear vision of the EU’s ultimate shape or form, they sought to advance it by
degrees. Thus they contributed to a situation in which the EU resembled a
geological formation, with many layers and initiatives, taken over the years,
deposited on top of each other” (323).
That geological formation concerns Dinan. Enlargement has created an
EU whose decision-making structures are increasingly cumbersome and
lack popular support or legitimacy. Neither the Nice treaty nor the constitu-
tional convention have solved the problem. Even so, the EU has recast
Europe by making inter-European war virtually obsolete. Europe “may be
boring, even Byzantine, but it is safe. The battlefields of Jena, Waterloo,
Verdun, or Normandy—where seemingly intractable problems were once
resolved—have given way to meeting rooms in Brussels, tidily furnished
with bottled water” (326).
This is an excellent book, recounting the story differently from John
Gillingham’s lengthier
European Integration 1950-2003
(2003) or Mark
Gilbert’s shorter
Surpassing Realism
(2003). Dinan’s book a good read for
thoseof us who know the story, and an evenbetter one for studentswho do not.
Steven B. Wolinetz/Memorial University of Newfoundland
GLOBALIZATION IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Edited by Michael D. Bordo, Alan M. Taylor and Jeffrey G. Williamson
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. x, 588pp, US$95.00 cloth
(ISBN 0-226-06598-7)
That globalization has a history is now well recognized. Before the volume
presently under review appeared, the best known example of a growing
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