This book offers a new view suggesting that European integration has been driven by political rather than economic considerations. The author makes it clear that from the end of the Second World War any plan of economic or monetary cooperation in Europe was almost exclusively motivated by politics. He argues that the very foundation of the organization of Western Europe was based on preventing further conflict between France and the newly partitioned Germany. Specifically, Robert Lieshout analyzes the initial stages of European cooperation between 1947 and 1957. He demonstrates that European institutions usually associated with economic integration, such as the European Economic Community, were actually laid to achieve the political aim of reconciliation between France and Germany. The fact that the very reasons for establishing a more formal organization of Europe have changed, i.e. the re-unification of Germany in 1990, makes for an interesting conclusion on future developments in European integration.

This book will be warmly welcomed by both academics and students interested in European integration, international political economy, history, international relations, European Studies and economics.