European Union - The Second Founding: The Changing Rationale of European Integration

The author is presenting a broadly structured study about the first fifty years of European integration, its geopolitical context and academic reflection. His study is based on the two-fold thesis that since a few years, the European Union is going through a process of its Second Founding while simultaneously changing its rationale.

The second founding. From national identities to European constitutionalism ; Europe's constitution -- Challenge and response. 1957-1979, institutions consolidated ; 1979-1993, economies integrated ; 1993-2009, politics Europeanized -- Global setting. Transatlantic relations : the bonds that hold ; Globalization and the changing rationale for European integration ; The global proliferation of region-building -- Ideas, norms, theories. Searching in vain : why European integration did not work earlier ; "For the sake of Europe" : prevailing normative disputes ; Academic evaluation : theorizing European integration -- Prospects. Toward European patriotism? ; Defining Europe's global interests.