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The process of building the European Union, which began with the Treaty of Paris in 1951, meant the emergence of new institutional structures. They will introduce a new dimension into the policies of the States, the relations with the Community institutions, to which they are gradually ceding part of their competences and powers, with a significant impact also on the relations between the Member States. We will analyze here the beginnings of this process, which is still ongoing, as it was inaugurated by the first three European Communities, the ECSC, the EEC and EURATOM, in the light the provisions of the treaties by which these communities were founded.

The European idea is the result of reflections of enlightened minds that have guided and shaped the evolution of deep thinking on this subject over the centuries. To believe that only in recent decades has such a topic been widely discussed in public would not only be unjust but also insufficient for the scientific documentation needed on this subject. The oscillation between idealism and visionary thinking of these enlightened minds, including Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre, was the major challenge of their reflections. At the same time, without the substantial contributions of beautiful minds such as those of Voltaire, Rousseau (names we find in the present analysis), we believe that the current European construction would not have been possible. We deem their names, including that of Charles-Irénée Castel, Abbot of Saint-Pierre, should be included in the list of the ‘founding fathers’ of the Europe envisioned by intellectuals of the time, both visionaries and idealists.

The European idea is the result of reflections of enlightened minds that have guided and shaped the evolution of deep thinking on this subject over the centuries. To believe that only in recent decades has such a topic been widely discussed in public would not only be unjust but also insufficient for the scientific documentation needed on this subject. The oscillation between idealism and visionary thinking of these enlightened minds, including Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre, was the major challenge of their reflections. At the same time, without the substantial contributions of beautiful minds such as those of Voltaire, Rousseau (names we find in the present analysis), we believe that the current European construction would not have been possible. We deem their names, including that of Charles-Irénée Castel, Abbot of Saint-Pierre, should be included in the list of the 'founding fathers' of the Europe envisioned by intellectuals of the time, both visionaries and idealists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stated or not, assumed with certainty, the two objectives of the European construction have accompanied its entire evolution in the 70 years since the first Constitutive Treaty, the one dedicated to the European Coal and Steel Community. Today, with the war in Ukraine, the European Union - a temple of peace and well-being - is confronted with belligerence. Not on its territory but on its borders. Not in the case of a member state, but with an associated one1 and with the prospect of accession. Without directly affecting its territory (currently and apparently), but on the map of Europe as it appeared in the projection of the founding fathers2 . Consequently, we see the need for a return of the EU towards its original objectives. As stated in Article 3 of the TEU3, peace, values and well-being seem to need renewed attention. Who expected that in the third millennium there would be a need for such reorientations? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyze, interpret and think Europe, based on studies guided by a multifocal pluridisciplinarity has the line master foster learning and critical thinking in order to make the diagnosis of structures and geographic representations, historical, political, social, economic, cultural, religious, but also the attitudes and aspirations, bearing in mind the otherness in all its dimensions. It was in the pursuit of this goal that in Portugal courses in European Studies have been created. In several areas have also been offered oriented courses for the training of economists, lawyers, teachers, politicians, political scientists, historians of European Studies. Framed within various universities, institutes and higher schools, research centers, foundations, European Studies also mobilize humanistic knowledge. This happened at the University of Coimbra.

Copyright of Vínculos de Historia is the property of Vinculos de Historia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Analyze, interpret and think Europe, based on studies guided by a multifocal pluridisciplinarity has the line master foster learning and critical thinking in order to make the diagnosis of structures and geographic representations, historical, political, social, economic, cultural, religious, but also the attitudes and aspirations, bearing in mind the otherness in all its dimensions. It was in the pursuit of this goal that in Portugal courses in European Studies have been created. In several areas have also been offered oriented courses for the training of economists, lawyers, teachers, politicians, political scientists, historians of European Studies. Framed within various universities, institutes and higher schools, research centers, foundations, European Studies also mobilize humanistic knowledge. This happened at the University of Coimbra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of Europe, there are only a few symbols that are common to all 27 EU countries: the Greek and Roman legacy, a common Christian religion, a shared bulk of common values and beliefs. The paper evaluates if Euro as a common currency should be considered as a symbol who may contribute to the European construction process and the role of symbols in the consolidation of a European collective identity. Our hypothesis is that the existence of a bulk of common symbols - among which the Euro currency is one of the most visible, shared widely by EU citizens - will consolidate the process of European construction. The lack of a common identity is often used by extremist parties as an argument in favor of Euro-pessimism and a return to nation state welfare. Our paper highlights the subtle links between money, collective identity and European integration. The results show a link between the rise of awareness concerning a European identity and the adoption of Euro. Fostering European symbols such as a single currency is contributing to create the conditions that allow the emergence of a sense of collective belonging, the European common identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geological surveys are public institutions founded at national levels, mostly during the nineteenth century to advance national scientific knowledge about the nature, structure, and history of the Earth's subsurface and locate potentially economic mineral concentrations. After the disasters of the two world wars and the formal launch on May 9, 1950, of the European Union's construction, European Geological Surveys actively contribute to this construction, providing data, information, and knowledge on the diversity of the subsurface-hosted natural resources (geothermal energy, groundwater, hydrocarbon and mineral resources, space for infrastructure construction or for storage purposes, for instance, CO2 storage after capture) and of geology-related natural hazards. This article retraces Pr. Wellmer's remarkable contribution to European public geosciences and to the transition from national, or sometimes regional, geological surveys to the development of a collective public European geoscientific infrastructure, nowadays based on the capacities and the experience of 38 national or regional geological surveys being members of EuroGeoSurveys, the Association of the Geological Surveys of Europe. This contribution not only happened during Pr. Wellmer's career with the German Federal Agency for Geoscience and Raw Materials (BGR, 1987–2005, being its president from 1996 to 2005) but is ongoing ever since. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU following the Brexit referendum including an analysis of the role of the main political actors. Beginning with the negotiation strategies of both the UK and the EU, it then concentrates on the political tensions between the British Government and Parliament with respect to the latter’s approval of the agreement – as well as EU behavior throughout that dispute. The article also focuses on how courts were asked to settle disputes between the main branches of power on the issue of Brexit and proposes a critical view on the role of the stakeholders of the agreement, as well as a reflection on the collateral effects of this process.

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Perceived rather as a consequence of the “European idea” implementation, integration in the field of security and defence was pushed in the background of the European construction, being legally regulated only in the last decade of the 20th century. The present study aims to analyse how the European security and defence idea emerged in the second half of the 20th century in relation to the development of the European construction process, and also in relation to the developments in the European and international political environment.

The special role of France as the initiator and engine of European construction is emphasized in the article. In this context the attention is drawn to the challenges and threats of the new type of industrial revolution because of the technological lag of France and of the other European Union (EU) countries from the main competitors in the world economy – primarily from the USA and China economies. The increasing importance of the key factor of production – human capital, its role in the value-added chains that are spreading is underlined. The factor of knowledge and of the State’s support are coming to the fore for economic growth

Robert Schuman is one of the key figures of the European construction pantheon. But beyond the recurrent discourse about him assuming the French project - the famous Declaration of 9 may 1950 - one may discover, from biographical and analytical sources - a more complex and subtle portrait of Schuman. He was a pragmatic person, but not a simple one; a discrete politician and lacking typical charisma, but an efficient and resolute one. He was not a theorist of the political phenomenon. Instead, the coherency of his conception had much to do with his Christian convictions.

Copyright of Historia y Politica: Ideas, Procesos y Movimientos Sociales is the property of Departamento De Historia del Pensamiento y de los Moviemientos Sociales y Politicos (Madrid) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historia Agraria is the property of Historia Agraria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The process of integration and federalisation in a Europe beaten by wars and a long queue of theoretical debates regarding the path to follow known generically as the "European Idea" represented the only solution to exit the crisis generated by the Second World War, the integration representing a process of adopting some common values and leadership, a confederation of multi-ethnical states that can cover great geographical regions. Federalism is founded on European culture, on its profound unity and its rich diversity, as well as its common values, democratic principles and human rights. In many different ways, it lends itself to particular forms of organization and the means of functioning of democratic societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical beginnings of conservative ideology were felt during the Revolution in France and the next decades that followed this event reference of modernity. The conservative thinking has evolved in the nineteenth century and in the early part of the twentieth century, it has experienced major changes in civilization and has known phenomena of crisis, identity and solutions, crisis that has exceeded it during the second of the last century, when it was restructured as neo-conservatism. Without having a single and concrete definition, conservatism has always represented all those who declare themselves political partisans to any social system, is concerned to ensure the continuity of social and political order, historically legitimated and strive to reject revolutions that would, inevitably, change it. The conservatism peculiarity was highlighted by rejecting the ideological organization of any systematization form of its ideas, because society can be organized by appealing to programs and theories. Conservatism is the political and social doctrine which renders the system a conservative spirit, focused on the ideal of social order and stability. Modern conservatism, located at the right of liberalism, was and shall remain the doctrinal and ideological opponent of all systems of ideas that are situated on the scale policy guidelines on its left. While tradition is indispensable for the existence of conservatism, it was forced to adapt to modern requirements and to modernize itself over time, maintaining however the main features that characterizes it.

Copyright of Cuadernos Europeos de Deusto is the property of Universidad de Deusto and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the second part of his article, Pierre Verluise writes about the possibility that the economy of the European Union might decline after the "Brexit", giving a few examples in terms of gross domestic product based on the purchasing power parity and unemployment. Then, he addresses the strategic perspectives of "Brexit", asking himself whether this prospective withdrawal would mean abandonment or a strategic rebound for the European Union. In the end of the article, he touches on the fact that there are many indicators suggesting that, after six decades of European construction, there has been a process of European deconstruction, wondering how far it will go. Yet, he mentions that all the difficulties encountered could become a great opportunity for the European Union to reinvent itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade the European construction and the structural changes on the European Union level were forced to adapt to the new global realities in which the multi-polar competition and the economic problems shaped the form of the Lisbon treaty and created a new frame of development for the continental organization. On the other hand, these new changes adopted by the treaty may not be the real solution to the contemporary global developments in which the accelerated and interdependent contexts define the world of tomorrow. From this point of view, the Lisbon treaty may or may not be the proper response to the internal and external challenges of the European Union, but it is clearly a step to a more safer and comprehensive Europe. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to map a possible walkthrough of the tomorrow’s European construction and also the maze of issues with which the Union must deal for a successful structural construction.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the institutional dynamics and politicaldevelopments of the European Union regarding its Eastern neighbours. This research is important in thefield of European Construction because it studies how the continental organization approached the questionof foreign relations towards countries that belonged to a different system of values. This paper wants tobring a deeper approach regarding the activity of the European Union towards the Republic of Georgia. Themethod used was a case study of the EU institutions and politics created towards the Georgian state.Through the systematization and interpretation of previous empirical studies and press articles this workoffers a clear image of the activity and results of the EU foreign policy towards Georgia. This paper mayelicit a more analytical interest for research groups interested in the efficiency of some entities that definethe European construction but it can also be useful to European or local political decisional factors. The keycontribution of this paper consists of providing a pertinent analysis of EU foreign policy towards Georgia inthe context of exceptional internal problems caused by the economic crisis and also considering thedependence of EU to another major player in Eurasia-Russian Federation- whose stake in Georgia isobviously extremely high.

The main purpose of this paper is to present the institutional dynamics of an international unique instrument which is the European Neighborhood Policy. This research is important in the field of European Construction because it studies the intercourse between the aims of this institution and it’s practical accomplishments. Unlike other similar research, this paper wants to bring a deeper approach regarding the activity of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine. The method used was a case study of the ENP towards the Republic of Moldova. Through the systematization and interpretation of previous empirical studies and numerous press articles this work offers a clear image of the activity and results of the EUBAM to Moldova and Ukraine. This paper may elicit a more analytical interest for research groups interested in the efficiency of some entities that define the European construction but it can also be useful to European or local political decisional factors. The key contribution of this paper consists of emphasizing the interdependence between solving a specific neighboring policy in the East and ensuring energy needs of the EU, largely dependent on the Russian Federation.

Resumen: El estudio empírico de la sociedad checa y eslovaca de los tiempos posteriores a la caída del telón de acero, en relación a la confianza de éstas hacia otras sociedades, y en especial a su confianza recíproca, descubre el valor de lo social en el cambio de las estructuras político-económicas. Siendo momentos de grandes transformaciones, el análisis de la confianza hacia los otros, puede constituirse en indicador útil de las estructuras cristalizadas en la subjetividad social que intervienen en los acontecimientos futuros. Así es como en este estudio han aparecido hipótesis que hacen replantearse alguno de los acontecimientos más relevantes de aquellos días como el divorcio de terciopelo checoslovaco.Abstract: The empirical research of the Czech and Slovak societies after the fall of the Iron Curtain in relation to the trust of these societies to others, especially to their reciprocal trust, shows the value of the social fact on the changes of political and economical structures. In times of transformations, the analysis of the trust to others could become a useful indicator of crystallized structures on the social subjectivity that take part in futures events. This way, some hypothesis have arisen in this research motivate to reconsidered important events of those days like the Czechoslovakia's velvet divorce.

In this article, I propose to examine the issue that at present most mobilizes the European states and public opinion within them: the modification of the institutional-political model, in the form of a Constitutional Treaty for Europe, requiring parliamentary or popular ratification by its twenty-five member States, within a period that remains undecided. Events surrounding the consultation proposed to the European governments and their citizens, indicate – particularly if we take into account the negative votes in France and Holland, and others that may yet occur – that the European Union is divided, raising the concern that its process of regional integration could suffer interruption or even reversal. My analysis of the reasons European citizens and European states find themselves divided, with emphasis on those that separate the bureaucracy in Brussels from the EU’s citizens and national governments, will revolve on two basic axes: the enlargement of the EU, recently grown from fifteen states to twenty-five, and the transformation of the EU’s political-institutional model, which in securing itself to a constitutional anchor modifies both symbolically and substantively the degrees of sovereignty and autonomy of Europe’s numerous political actors. So doing, this analysis will seek support in theoretical currents that, stimulated by the importance and singularity of the process of European construction, have been brought to bear on the examination of the political instruments and procedures involved, their determinants, and their consequences. Beginning with the matter of enlargement, this article will look at the recurrent problems arising from admission of the ten new member countries from the Center and East of the continent – that is, the “other Europe” – formally incorporated in May 2004, and at the decisive weight this had in the decision to formulate a Constitution for Europe. Arriving thus at my second topic, I will reconstruct the debate between a “Europe-Union of States” and a “Super-State Europe,” discussing issues directly connected to this classic dichotomy – democracy, legitimacy, formation of a collective identity, division of sovereignty, and others – which, having direct impact on European citizens, will determine the acceptance or rejection of what is being proposed to them in the Constitutional Treaty.

As part of this work, we only restrict this analysis to the period immediately before the war, i.e. from 1939, when she prepares to start. We wish to show that the European Union projects, presented with great breath in previous decades as a result of the first world war, were not merely circumstantial. Before the world war still exist these ideas to unite Europe, achieved through the presentation of specific proposals, presented at various levels, not being "utopias" of intellectuals or even isolated politicians who dream of a "Europe whole and free".In the twenty-first century, Europe is still an unfinished work, a "dream unfulfilled." Despite sixty years of European construction, and the actual achievements made, the European project, announced soon after the First World War, and implemented by the "method of small steps” after the second conflict, still remains valid. Europe is still Europe, future dream, as prophetically announced Adolfo Casais Monteiro. http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/1647-6336_13_3

Copyright of Bulletin of the 'Carol I' National Defence University / Buletinul Universitatii Nationale de Aparare 'Carol I' is the property of Carol I National Defence University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Social Economy is the property of Alternative Sociale Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The general European context is more complex than ever before. The „New Europe“ project has its frameworks and limits even less drafted than in the previous epochs, and the internal and geostrategic political intentions are at their highest level of complexity. European leaders must sketch a project for the third millennium Europe in the term begun in the summer of 2014, a project that must primarily satisfy the European Union citizens, the main beneficiaries of the whole process generically known as the „European construction.“ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obviously, the stage we find ourselves at in the European construction is the result of some accumulations of internal processes of the European pattern, in relation with the external environment, generated by alternative patterns, opposable to the cultural and civilisation European pattern. Pending our intervention, we will focus upon the internal causative factors.

In this article, we examine how European patients' organizations (EPOs) contribute to moving patient advocacy beyond national level organizing and acting. In contrast to Europeanization studies, our contention is that EPOs are not content merely to bring national claims up to the European level nor simply enrich national debates with European issues. Rather, we argue that EPOs engage in a compounded multilevel construction of patients as ‘European individuals’ and of their conditions as matters of concern for Europe. Based on an analysis of the projects, pronouncements, and politics of three EPOs – European Organization on Rare Diseases, Alzheimer Europe, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Europe – we explore how they form European communities of patients and give shape to health issues they deem important to address at European level. We show that EPOs' involvement in the ongoing construction of Europe relies on their capacities to collect, format, and circulate comparative facts, figures, and data on the functioning of domestic health systems, drawn notably on their members' experiences. This helps them to raise discussions on the need for European health-care policies which articulate a ‘Europe of markets’ and a ‘social Europe’ to the benefit of the patients. We discuss the form of politics that this EPOs’ ‘evidence-based activism’, as we call it, entails, and conclude with a few thoughts on their influence on the making of European health-care policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article seeks to provide, by using a legal approach and a chronological perspective on the European construction, an answer to the issue of the European Union's legal nature. The many stages completed by this economic and, subsequently, political construction have brought about numerous changes of substance, concerning the powers of the three original economic integration organisations (EEC, EC, EURATOM), subsequently incorporated in a multilevel system with a political governance unique in the world (the European Union), a multifaceted construction, whose powers have increased progressively both in relation to the Member States and to the organisations of economic integration (EEC, EC). During other stages, we witness the strengthening of the European Union (EU), the development of the European Community through the Lisbon Treaty (the other organisation of specific integration, the European Economic Community, having lasted a limited period of time, had already stopped to exist legally in 2002), we witness its substitution by the EU and the incorporation of EURATOM in the new EU. The evolution towards ever more coherent stages of European federalism illustrates the dynamism of this construction and its progressive consolidation (an expression of neo-functionalism) of the EU's original nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le Traité de Lisbonne a été rejeté par référendum en Irlande le 12 juin 2008. Loin d’être un incident de parcours, le vote irlandais est symptomatique d’un divorce persistant entre opinions publiques et projet européen.Parmi les issues possibles, la plus probables est néanmoins celle de la poursuite de la ratification qui serait assortie d’un nouveau vote irlandais. The Treaty of Lisbon has been rejected by the referendum of the 12 of june 2008. Far away from being a mere « incident », this votation is symptomatic of a persistent « divorce » between the public opinions and the european project. Nevertheless, the most probale issue is the proceeding of the ratification process which would be accompanied with a new vote in Irland.

The Treaty of Lisbon is supposed to "release" the European construction. But the crisis into which got stuck this process is linked to various scales of time and causalities, which are more or less easy to reduce. Moreover, the Treaty changes the european governance by marking a return of States and by ratifying the principle of « Europe with variable geometry ». It brings a resolution in the problem of the representation of the diversity of States, but they will have to wait for 2014 or even on 2017 for his putting into practice.

Copyright of Revista Română de Drept European is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives: For the European Union, the principle of subsidiarity is associated with the principle of proportionality, credited with maintaining the balance between the interests of Member States and those of European Union. This study aims to analyze the principle of subsidiarity and the failures of EU and analyze the conditions which bring under regulation the implementation of this principle. The essay also examines interdisciplinary the impact of the implementation of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality towards the powers exercised within the Union. Prior work: I've tried to find and debate hermeneutical new regulations and doctrinal opinions in this domain very important for those who practice international public law. Results: In European Union and Member States, the enforcement of principles of law is viewed with great interest, being considered sources of law. Value: We think this article represents an important step in the disclosure of the problem raised by appliance of subsidiarity and proportionality' principles on european and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study registers the first moments which defined the process of European contruction, and the necessity of its rise, then, it points the most meaningful moments in which France interceded by its foreign policy in this process. France abndoned the desire to find in Great Britain a partner for its foreign policy, De Gaulle refocused his policy to an agreement with West Germany, his success being explained by his excellent relation with Chancellor Adenauer. By its foreign policy in the process of Eurpean construction, France pursued the fulfilment of the national interests and the conception of an European frame in which France to be the spokesperson of Europe. As predited by De Gaulle, the process of European construction evolved from „The Six” to its twenty- seven members, France supporting by its policy the extension of the European Union, and the famous Gaullist formula „Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals” is about to turn into reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to analyze the position of Romania concerning the project for European unification proposed by the French politician Aristide Briand. The Briand Project is the first project of European construction presented in official circumstances, during the meeting of the Society of Nations. The project of the European federal union focused on the political aspects, while the economic elements were subordinated to the political leaders. Romania approved the plan proposed by Briand, but issued some observations to make sure it didn't endanger the interest of its foreign policy. We will focus on the project regarding a European federal union as proposed by the famous French politician of the interwar period, but also on the reactions of Romania, taken by certain Romanian politicians, regarding this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the concept of a "Free Europe" as it has evolved throughout the 20th century, with its ups and downs - ranging from the first realistic plans for devising a continental edifice, continuing through the bleakest moments of Europe's history, when liberty was under siege and had all but receded from the Easternmost part of the continent. We begin with the ideas of Aristide Briand, the first major political figure to advance a concrete concept of federal European integration. Although his initial approach only addressed economic principles, Briand's design increasingly incorporated political considerations as well. The economic and political woes of the period, however, caused its eventual failure. Finally, we focus on the onslaught on liberty in postwar Eastern Europe, highlighting the ways in which the events there were perceived by American diplomats who constantly warned of the security risks to Western Europe and the U.S., once Eastern Europe succumbed entirely to totalitarian rule. American diplomats also offered recommendations for what should be done once communism was rolled back, as we have lately seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]