Antonio Varsori Ordre des livres

For some time now studies on European post-war history have regarded the 1970s as a period of crisis and uncertainty. Recently historians of both the Cold War and European integration have started to reassess the 1970s, but we still lack a comprehensive analysis of the period. Such an analysis was the main goal of a research project launched by a group of Italian scholars with the collaboration of foreign colleagues. The present volume is the outcome of the most significant results of the project, all based on extensive archival investigations. It offers significant new contributions on a fundamental period of our most recent history. Jusqu'a une epoque recente, les etudes sur l'histoire de l'apres-guerre en Europe ont considere les annees 1970 comme une periode de crise et d'incertitudes. Ce n'est que recemment que les historiens de la guerre froide et de l'integration europeenne ont commence a reevaluer les annees 1970. Une mise en perspective globale faisait cependant encore defaut. Un groupe de chercheurs italiens a decide de s'y atteler, en developpant un projet de recherche avec la collaboration de collegues etrangers. Cet ouvrage presente les resultats de leurs discussions ainsi que des recherches menees dans les archives de plusieurs pays et organisations. Il offre de passionnantes contributions et interpretations sur une periode fondamentale de notre histoire recente.

In 1958 the ratification of the Rome Treaties led to the creation of new actors in European policies: the EEC and the EURATOM. Not only the European Commission or the European Parliamentary Assembly tried to assert themselves as autonomous actors, which could work out European policies independently from the governments, but also interest groups and political forces began to organize themselves as European entities. The twenty-six contributions on this volume are offering new insights on the role which European institutions played as well as on the decision-making process within these institutions and on the interaction between the new institutions and the national governments. The volume discusses the implementation of the EEC Customs Union and the development of the Common Agricultural Policy, the first attempts on European social and monetary policies, the role of the EEC in international transactions and the appearance of European federations of political parties and pressure groups. Coherence and performance of these actors determined the new political playground which emerged during the 60’s and early 70’s.