What is Europe?

Abstract

* This article is a revised English translation of the introduction to an earlier collective work edited by Cédric Durand in 2013. His book, entitled Ending Europe, was published in French by La Fabrique in Paris and is printed here with the kind permission of La Fabrique. 1 Since the 1950s and 1960s, associations, such as the Jean Monnet and the Robert Schumann foundations as well as political organisations like the European Movement and Christian democratic parties have worked to establish a history, underlining the nobility of the cause and constructing in a retrospective manner the coherence of the project of the 'fathers of Europe'. The historiographical tradition masks the role of American foundations, also the role of the Alfred Toepfer foundation (Toepfer is a controversial figure for his role in Nazi Germany); see also A. Cohen (2007) 'Le "père" de l'Europe' [The 'Father'