ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Dutch European movement in the interwar period in the context of debates on Dutch internationalism. It proves that a European movement existed in this period and shows its relevance for understanding support for European cooperation post-1945.
The interwar European movement only becomes visible if we adopt a civil society approach that analyses the wider foreign policy network of business people, intellectuals and grass-roots activists as well as Foreign Ministry officials. This chapter focuses on the Vereeniging voor Volkendbond en Vrede (VeV), the Dutch League of Nations Union, which is a perfect case study to examine debates about internationalisms. Dutch debates cannot be examined in isolation. A transnational approach is necessary to see the influence of, for example, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, or the Briand proposal and the International Federation of League of Nations Societies in hampering and stimulating Dutch Europeanism. With global internationalism under pressure in the 1930s, European internationalism became increasingly attractive. The Dutch focus was on economic cooperation, but European projects could not lead to continental competition or compromise colonial connections. In the post-1945 geopolitical constellation these objections lost in importance while the main argument in favour, stimulating trade, remained relevant. This then situates Dutch European initiatives such as the Beyen Plan in the 1950s.
