ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an account of the debate on the future of Europe which took place in wartime Britain especially during the years 1941-1944. This debate was called by a number of political writers of the time the "New Europe" debate. Particular attention will be given to the contributions of E. H. Carr and David Mitrany. If Britain was to become primarily a European power, or more radically a part of a single United States of Europe, then this obviously had implications for the historical, cultural, economic and other ties with the Dominions and America. Britain was riot immune from this trend in political thinking. The conventional view is that the British have always been hostile to the federal idea. Pragmatism rather than constitutionalism, it is widely held, is their natural political inclination. By 1944, enthusiasm in Britain for European unity, while still strong in certain quarters, had generally subsided.
