Introduction

The underlying theme of Western European history since the end of World War II has been the efforts to bring the nation states closer together economically and politically. The motivating force behind integration attempts has varied over time. The original rationale was to prevent the countries of Western Europe from going to war with each other. The peoples of Western Europe came increasingly to believe that they could better achieve their aspirations by merging some of their national prerogatives into collective forms of activity. The history of the European Community (EC) has been characterized alternatively by forward movement and by retrogression, as the member states have dealt with changing economic and political situations and with changing views regarding the desired structure and content of their cooperative efforts. The chapter also presents some key concepts discussed in this book.