European integration history is a relatively new academic field. The methodological approach relies strongly on the gradual opening of political archives throughout Europe relevant to the history of the European Communities. Whereas historians traditionally have been organised in the realm of national professional environments, European integration history is by nature a truly international topic that calls for the creation of an international network of scholars.

The second international RICHIE conference that will take place from December 7-10, 2006 in Copenhagen. The conference will be hosted by the Research Priority Area, Europe in Transition. The conference is to be held under the scientific direction of Professor Karl Christian Lammers, Copenhagen University. Members of the scientific committee are Professor Karl Christian Lammers (Copenhagen University) (chairman), Professor Eric Bussière (Paris IV-Sorbonne), Professor Anne Deighton (Oxford University), Professor Wolfram Kaiser (University of Portsmouth), Professor Johnny Laursen (University of Aarhus), Professor Wilfried Loth (Universität Duisburg-Essen), Professor Piers Ludlow (London School of Economics), Professor Maurice Vaïsse (Institut d’études politiques, Paris), Professor Antonio Varsori (Università degli Studi di Padova), Pascaline Winand (European University Institute).

Conference Themes

Current scholarship on the European integration process can be divided into five schools that each try to explain why the European continent from the mid 20th century has moved in the direction of increasing economic and political integration. It is the overall aim of the conference to revisit the most important schools of research and to discuss the very nature of this European integration. Hence, researchers are invited to submit papers within the themes of research broadly formulated below.

1. The European idea as the driving force
The European integration process is considered the result of a change of mentality in the European populations and political elites particularly after the destructive effects of World War II. Federalist movements that were created in the wake of the war, so it has been argued, played a decisive role in the establishment of the European institutions and their subsequent development.

2. European integration as the rescue o the nation-state
This school interprets the European integration process in the context of the general development of the European nation-state in the 20th century. The interwar economic and political crisis undermined fundamentally the nation-states, but the post-World War II period witnessed a resurrection, also seen as a ‘rescue’ of the nation-state. The economic, social and political choices of the nation-states nurtured European integration. The national rescue could only happen through surrendering national sovereignty to supranational European institutions.

3. European integration as part o and as an answer to the globalisation of international economy
This interpretation has two distinct elements. On the one hand, the process of European integration is seen as part of an increasing liberalisation of the exchange of goods, currencies, services and labour. On the other hand, the European institutions are considered as an answer to the challenges that globalisation incurs upon the nation-states.

4. European integration as tradtional foreign policy
The European integration process is here interpreted as a new version of traditional inter-state diplomacy. The new European stability that was gained after World War II is seen as a new ‘Concert of Europe’. At the centre stage is foreign policy and diplomacy.

5. Institutional dynamics and constitutionalization as driving forces
In this interpretation, the foundation of truly European institutions is of central importance. The European institutions and especially the European Court of Justice is seen as decisive for the dynamics of the European integration process.