German Unification 1815-1871 and Its Relevance for Integration Theory

Abstract

This paper reconsiders German unification during the period 1815-1871. First, it makes explicit the comparison between the German Empire and the European Union. Actors faced remarkably similar institutionbuilding problems in both organisations. The second part of the paper evaluates the usefulness of three arguments from two theoretical traditions in European Union integration studies to explain the course of German unification. Following an analytic narrative approach, it considers the relevant actors and the relevant decision points to evaluate two versions of intergovernmentalism, one focused on the security concerns of actors and one focused on economic concerns, as well as neo-functionalism. Economic interests did play a role even in the geopolitically heavy 19th century. Neo-functionalism was less useful, although some structures like pan-German interest groups in support of further integration did develop as neo-functionalists would predict.

O legado de Friedrich List e sua influência sobre a integração econômica europeia

“…Um ano antes de List elaborar sua petição enfatizando a necessidade de abolir os direitos aduaneiros internos na Alemanha, a Prússia tinha empreendido reforma drástica em seu próprio sistema tarifário, embora visasse unificar apenas as aduanas dos territórios estritamente prussianos, em vez de promover a união de todas as aduanas espalhadas ao longo do território alemão (Henderson, 1975;Hallerberg;Snyder, 1995). Nesse ínterim, outros Estados alemães, especialmente no sul, começaram a negociar acordos comerciais entre si.…”

Democracy and representation beyond the nation state

“…Yet, state institutions in the national constellation typically have the power to shape the borders of areas of dense social transactions, and thus the limits of common communication, experience and memory. Consider examples such as the language policies of the emerging centralist France (Hobsbawm 1992 ), the unification of measurement units, currencies and time in the emerging Wilhelminian Empire (Hallerberg and Weber 2002 ) or the state-supported fabrication of national myths in Victorian Britain (Snyder 1993 ). The implication is that the borders of the communities themselves, and the process of identity formation, are strongly influenced by political institutions.…”