February 28 | 16h | Amphitheater VI, FLUC
Jean-Michel Guieu (Université de Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) will be at the Amphitheatre VI of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, an activity included in the Axes of Interdisciplinary Knowledge – Keynote Series of the Doctorate in Contemporary Studies (DEC), with the communication entitled “The rebirth of the European Idea. From World War II to the foundation of the Council of Europe”.
Date, time, place
2023, 28 February | 4 p.m | Amphitheatre VI | Faculty of Arts and Humanities | University of Coimbra
This session will also be broadcasted via Zoom and the CEIS20 Youtube channel.
Abstract
The trauma of the Second World War strongly revived a European consciousness and the pro-European activism knew then a real “golden age", that culminated with the “Congress of Europe" held in The Hague in May 1948, bringing together nearly 800 participants.
The context of the Cold War played also a crucial role in favour of the European unity. The Marshall Plan gave birth to the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, but the ambitions of this institution were largely thwarted by the fundamental differences between French and British approach to European unity, which also characterized the negotiations leading to the creation of the Council of Europe in 1949.
The European project nonetheless acquired from this founding moment three important characteristics that would mark its history for a long time: its westernization, its mainly economic dimension and the impossibility of building Europe on the Franco-British couple.
Biographical note
Jean-Michel Guieu is senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at the University of Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. His main research interests concern the study of pacifism and pro-European activism, the League of Nations and the history of international law. He has published notably Le Rameau et le Glaive. Les militants français pour la Société des Nations(Presser de Sciences Po, 2008), Gagner la paix 1914-1929 (Seuil, 2015). He has also co-edited several volumes on Le Congrès de l’Europe à La Haye, 1948-2008 (Peter Lang, 2009), Les Défenseurs de la paix, 1899-1917 (Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2018), La paix dans la guerre. Espoirs et expériences de paix, 1914-1919 (Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2022).