Jean Monnet – Revisiting the Past of the EU for Better Understanding the Present
Abstract
This article presents some key-aspects of the political vision of Monnet, as one of the founding fathers of EU, but also as an original and under evaluated thinker. The biographic descriptions present Monnet as a French businessman, a banker, a diplomat, a politician, and a cosmopolitan personality. His name is related to the conception of the Schuman Declaration, which in May 1950 invited the occidental countries to start the European project. Some specialists appreciate his contribution as decisive for the first European community, for the post-war international bipolar order; others tend to reveal the myth build on his image, as a legitimating European myth. But we consider that Monnet’s political ideas have a theoretical signification and continue to be valuable today, even if the large world order context is different. One can interrogate the current European Union entity by the lens of the political and sociological ideas of Monnet on classical items such social change, solidarity, community, international relations, revealing that the past could help to explain or interpret the new challenges.
References
*** Letter of Jean Monnet, Dean Acheson Papers, box 28, folder 288, Yale University Library, New Haven Connecticut.
Beardworth, Richard (2012). Political vision in the discipline of International Relations. Millenium – Journal of International
Studies, 40. http://mil.sagepub.com/content/40/3/541.
Bertaux, Daniel (1980). L’approche biographique: sa validite methodologique, ses potentialites. Cahiers internationaux de
sociologie, July-December. www.jstor.org.
Chevenement, Jean Pierre (1996). La faute de Jean Monnet. Paris: Fayard.
Giddens, Anthony (2010). Sociologia/ Sociology. Bucharest: ALL Publishing House.
Goldmann, Lucien (1980). Essays on Method in the Sociology of Literature. Saint Louis: Telos Press.
Iordache, Ruxandra (2015). Jean Monnet – valente teoretice ale leadershipului. Revista de Stiinte Politice si Relatii
Internationale/ Jean Monnet – theoretical valences of leadership. Journal of Political Science and International Relations, nr.
-3, pp. 51-66.
Joly, Marc (2007). Le mythe Jean Monnet. Contribution a une sociologie historique de la construction europeenne. Paris:
CNRS Editions.
Mayne, Richard (1967). The role of Jean Monnet. în Government and Oposition.
Monnet, Jean (1952). Speech. Marianne Monnet-Nobecourt Archives. Washington: National Press Club.
Monnet, Jean (1976). Memoires. Paris: Fayard.
Roussel, Eric (1996). Jean Monnet. Paris: Fayard.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 EIRP Proceedings
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.