TY - BOOK ID - 33054211 TI - The Symbolic Politics of European Integration : Staging Europe PY - 2018 SN - 331968132X 3319681338 PB - Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, DB - UniCat KW - European communities KW - History. KW - Europe KW - European Union countries KW - EU countries KW - Euroland KW - Economic integration KW - Politics and government. KW - European Union. KW - Europe-Politics and government. KW - Diplomacy. KW - World politics. KW - European Union Politics. KW - European Politics. KW - Political History. KW - Colonialism KW - Global politics KW - International politics KW - Political history KW - Political science KW - World history KW - Eastern question KW - Geopolitics KW - International organization KW - International relations KW - History KW - Europe—Politics and government. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:33054211 AB - This book presents a cultural history of European integration. It revisits the European Community’s postwar origins through the lens of symbolic representation and so reveals a hitherto unknown side to Europe’s notorious technocrats. They were not simply administrators: they were skillful marketing experts, clever spin doctors, and talented stage directors. After all, what made the European Community stand out among the multitude of postwar European organizations? This book argues that it was not so much its vaunted supranationalism, nor its economic significance; it was its self-proclaimed role as torchbearer of European unity. Combining archival research with media analysis, The Symbolic Politics of European Integration reviews Europe’s early parliaments, its early diplomacy, and its long search for “capital cities,” from Strasbourg to Brussels. It tells the story of the political theater that staged an enterprise of technocrats as the embodiment of a Europe united in peace and prosperity. This book is an invaluable resource for historians of postwar Europe, as well as for analysts of today’s EU, who seek to understand how coal, steel, and tariffs became the stuff the European dream was made of. ER -