Manchester University Press Memory and the Future of Europe: Rupture and Integration in the Wake of Total War (Manchester University Press)

From the Back Cover The establishment of the European Union was the most significant development in twentieth-century political organisation. Despite the EU's achievements, events at the beginning of the twenty-first century pose an existential threat. Memory and the future of Europe treats integration as a response to the rupture created by the age of total war. As the generations with personal memories of the two world wars have passed away, economic gain has increasingly become the EU's sole raison d'être. If the Union is to survive, it will have to create a new historical imaginary that builds on the experiences of those who have grown up in a unified Europe and on the EU's ability to protect its citizens from the forces of globalisation. Product Description The establishment of the European Union was the most significant development in twentieth-century political organisation. Despite the EUs achievements, events at the beginning of the twenty-first century pose an existential threat. Memory and the future of Europe treats integration as a response to the rupture created by the age of total war. As the generations with personal memories of the two world wars have passed away, economic gain has increasingly become the EUs sole raison dêtre. If the Union is to survive, it will have to create a new historical imaginary that builds on the experiences of those who have grown up in a unified Europe and on the EUs ability to protect its citizens from the forces of globalisation. Review For everyone who wants to understand how, in the last century, collective war memories shaped the EU we live in today and how, through generational dynamics, this ""utopian vision"" of Europe, which was turned into concrete politics and institutions, was eroded over time, this book is a must read. --Ulrike Guérot, Professor of European Politics and the Study of Democracy at Danube University Krems and Founder of the European Democracy LabA very timely reminder of the importance of shared memory to founding and upholding a political community. Peter Verovek rightly argues that as Second World War memories fade and as the experience with Stalinism in newer member states challenges the narrative of the Holocaust as its foundational rock the European Union must reconstruct a shared historical imaginary. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's and Hannah Arendts concepts of rupture and new beginning, he encourages us to discern openings towards a common future in the crises of the present. --Luuk van Middelaar, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions, Leiden UniversityThe collective memory of Europes twentieth-century wars played a central role in the construction of the European Union; its erosion endangers the European project today. Using the theoretical lens of the Frankfurt Schools critical theory approach and primary sources focused on first-person accounts by European leaders, Peter Veroveks ground-breaking book sheds bright light not only on the collective memory of the past but also on the consequences of its loss on the EUs present, as he diagnoses the pathologies of today and suggests possible pathways forward. --Vivien A. Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University About the Author Peter J. Verovek is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield