ABSTRACT
Series of impressive national referenda in postwar Europe clearly reveal how the ideas of integration and limited national sovereignty penetrated the way of thinking in Europe and acquired the political efficacy to nudge Europeans towards the idea that giving up major elements of national sovereignty could be the best answer to the challenges of war and its postwar consequences. The attempt of the victorious powers to build international institutional guarantees to prevent a repetition of post-World War I mistakes definitely strengthened the appeal, among victors and vanquished alike, of ideas such as cooperation and limited national sovereignty. The nation-states of Western Europe happily accepted American leadership and the defense shield of American military and nuclear strength, relinquished the central function of defending their citizens, and escaped into the American-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) guaranteed neither a high degree of European prosperity nor the rebuilding of Europe's economic position in the world.
