Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung

Themen der Forschung

Der Idealismus der frühen europäischen Föderalisten

Dieter Freiburghaus / Markus Grädel

S. 25-37

The most common reason given for the failure of European federalism after world war two is unionist opposition, especially in the UK. Another explanation, we suggest, lies in the idealism of the federalist movement. At the time, federalism was a common banner for a wide range of political groups, ranging from communists to conservatives. As such, it had to remain rather vague and detached from political reality. Meanwhile, for many years Switzerland was a meeting point for the various European movements. As a multilingual, federalist country, it represented a model for the European federalists. Yet the latter were hardly interested in the detailed reality of the Swiss political system. By analyzing a number of manifestos and programmes, we discover that most political statements remained vague, throwing little light on how a future federal Europe might work. Next we turn our attention to the most important exponent of the federalist vision at the time: the Swiss philosopher and writer, Denis de Rougemont. He paints an idealistic picture of Europe, made up of regions that pay no respect to over national boundaries. We conclude, nonetheless, that this idealistic vision played a valuable role: by remaining vague and indeterminate, it left room for European democrats of diverse persuasions to debate ideas and build a common understanding before undertaking specific political changes.

Zitiervorschlag für diesen Artikel:
Freiburghaus, Dieter/Grädel, Markus 2005: Der Idealismus der frühen europäischen Föderalisten, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (Hrsg.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2005. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, S. 25-37.