ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the College of Europe, the first educative institution created in Bruges to train European integration executives, began as a space of struggle over a particular definition of Europe as a political entity. Based on a socio-historical analysis, this chapter shows how this definition, heavily influenced by the Personalist doctrine, was defended by a group of actors who rose up against the parliamentary nation state system in the 1930s. Unable to influence the postwar political balance of power at the European level, these individuals found in Bruges a place to apply their doctrine. While they enjoyed relative pedagogical autonomy at the College, in the context of the Cold War, the institution was closely bound with US interests, funds, and networks.
