Applied History and the European Union: The Case of 'normative Integrationism'

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the prospects for enriching understanding of the contemporary European Union (EU) through the practice of applied history. It does so through considering the specific case of the concept of the EU as a ‘normative power’. It sets out the key features of applied history: as a means of opening up debates, and moving back in time the starting points generally used in discussion of issues. The approach involves reasoning using both historical analogies and through the construction of sequences of events leading to the present. The author then describes the ‘normative power’ interpretation of the EU, a school in which the EU is characterised by and seeks to promote a variety of values and norms. The paper then proposes historic examples providing analogies for what it terms ‘European normative integrationism’. They include, institutionally, the Papacy and Roman Catholic Church, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Napoleonic system. Precedents for the EU as an ideological project include the Christian religion, the Universal Monarchy concept, Cobdenite free trade, and the ethical dimensions of European colonialism. The author also advances accounts of sequences of development leading up to the present EU. Amongst them are the emergence of secularism, the rise and decline of the European empires, and the changing position of Germany in Europe. The paper concludes by drawing preliminary conclusions regarding the practical and intellectual viability of ‘normative power’, and the value of applied history in understanding the EU.