A Converging Post-War European Discourse by Hoerber Thomas C.;

Author:Hoerber, Thomas C.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books

Chapter 6

Research & Education

The indicator “Research & Education” is the one which seems to fall out of the line of security issues of previous chapters. It makes however a good bridge between the previous chapter on Military Security and the following chapter on Economic Security through the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), or Euratom. In Euratom one finds the link to the other economic European communities, such as the European Economic Community (EEC) dealt with in the next chapter on “Economic Security,” Euratom being the second of the Treaties of Rome. It contributed to the European integration process as such and shared the idealistic spirit of the early integration years in its creation. The indicator “Research & Education” has its merit, because the potential for developing progressive European ideas and institutions can be seen not only in projects such as Euratom, but also in the very idealistic discourse which can be found in the sector of education. Even the lack of references of, for example British commitment to European education initiative or the lack of the idealistic discourse in the British Isles, tells a story about the respective attitudes toward European integration at that time and in that particular country. The contribution or non-contribution to a converging discourse on European integration in France, Germany and Britain, thus also found its reflection in the sectors of Research and Education.

In general, the “Education” part will deal with youths’ exchange and mutual understanding in Europe, which are important for France and Germany on an idealistic level and which culminate in the Elysée Treaty of 1963—normally slightly outside the chronological focus of this book, but an analysis of the Elysée Treaty will nevertheless be included in the following sections on France and Germany, because of the importance of this treaty for Education initiatives between these two countries.

Under “Research,” British and French nuclear research programs are considered. Germany did not have a military nuclear program, because of its commitment under the WEU treaty, as described in the previous chapter on “Military Security,” but the civil use of nuclear power was fostered under the auspices of “Euratom,” which was another French European integration initiative and which was also rejected by Britain in the 1950s.

The indicator “Research and Education” is also interesting for the application of Discourse Theory in European Studies, because, once again we find this overlap between internal hegemonization and external antagonism. The hegemonization process, for example, can clearly be seen in the Euratom project. Euratom was explicitly conceived as an exclusively civilian community, but France—nevertheless its creator—wanted to keep the military option open. When it became clear that this was not possible, hegemonization failed, which can arguably be seen as the reason why Euratom never developed its full integration potential, lacking the support of France.1

Education initiatives were also torn between an internal European process of developing a European identity, on the one hand, and the classical external process between nations which reinforced national identities alongside each other. This chapter will show some of these

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