European Disintegration? Warnings from History

Issue Date October 2012
Volume 23
Issue 4
Page Numbers 7-14
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The irony at the heart of Europe’s current crisis is that although the EU originated as part of a post-1945 effort to consolidate democracy in Western Europe, the Union’s travails are now pushing the continent in the opposite direction instead. Stable democracy is only a product of the post 1945 period in Europe. This article discusses changes that occurred in Europe after the Second World War at both domestic and regional levels and argues that while the former played a critical role in stabilizing Europe, the latter eventually worked to undermine it.

About the Author

Sheri Berman is professor of political science at Barnard College. Her works include Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day (2019) and The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe’s Twentieth Century (2006).

View all work by Sheri Berman