Writing the Rules for Europe

Drawing on fresh archival evidence, this book tells the story of how experts, cartels and international organizations have written the rules for Europe since around 1850. It shows that the present-day European Union was a latecomer in European integration, which is embedded in a long-term technocratic internationalist tradition.

“Many studies have been done on Aristide Briand or Walter Rathenau, who led European integration efforts in France and Germany during the interwar year. There are fewer contributions on telecommunication or railway engineers, with a comparable focus on integration. Writing the Rules for Europe provides this rather neglected perspective. It is easy to read, but at the same time offers shrewd insights into the underlying technological structures of European integration, which should be valuable to scholars and the general public alike.” (Thomas Hoerber, Journal of Contemporary European Research JCER, Vol. 14 (03), 2018)

“Writing the Rules of Europe provides a 150-year history of the hidden expert-driven integration of Europe, which eventually led the EU to become the most important and contested producer of rules, regulations and systems for transnational interaction in Europe. … the book connects the history of technology, perspectives from transnational and global history, and European integration history in a way that is refreshing and, for the field of European integration history, absolutely vital.” (Haakon A. Ikonomou, European History Quarterly, Vol. 47 (3), July, 2017) 

“The book is a guide to the processes which continue to be the hottest topics regarding Western Europe and the European Union itself. … If you are a historian of science and technology or a scholar of global and international history, you will be fascinated. If you are teaching or studying cultural history, sociology or political science consider this book as part of your reading list. … it is a book made of steel and worth reading.” (Lyubomir Pozharliev, KULT_online - Review Journal for the Study of Culture, Issue 51, July, 2017)

“The book offers an exciting new history of European integration, finding its answers in Europe’s long technological trajectories. … Writing the Rules of Europe is an important new book. In dismantling the political myth of Europe, the authors unearth a long-standing institutional history of competitive, international rule-writing, by expert committees and cartels, that helped link and define Europe technically.” (Elisabeth Van Meer, Technology and Culture, Vol. 57 (2), April, 2016)

"There have been many studies of European integration, but this richly illustrated and lucidly written book is the first to illuminate the evolution of the Union as a system for managing transnational processes.

The result is an epic history of the experts, companies and international organisations that transformed the continent. What emerges is a new and important interpretation: the Union was not born out of the ruins of war in the 'zero hour' of 1945, but is rather the fruit of a deep history that extends back to the technocratic internationalism of the mid-nineteenth century. A landmark book." - Chris Clark, Cambridge University, UK

"Jean Monnet, Konrad Adenauer, and Paul-Henri Spaak the names of these and several other statesmen of the postwar era are often cited to explain how and when European integration started. This book offers a very different explanation by highlighting the role that experts and technocrats have played in defining and implementing rules of Europeangovernance since the mid-19th century. An innovative interpretation, and a very readable and beautifully illustrated book. "

Kiran Klaus Patel, Maastricht University, Netherlands

"Writing the Rules for Europe is a brilliant book that uses the history of technology as a foundation to make new sense both of European integration and of contemporary European history, and it will be interest to historians of technology and to the larger community of historians interested in European and transnational history. Kaiser and Schot reveal an expansive, fluid, and layered Europe coalescing, from the mid-19th century, through a growing network of new, overlapping European spaces structured by transport, communication, power, and commerce systems that the public eagerly adopted. Yet this was a 'hidden integration,' created within a culture of technocratic internationalism, by international committees, experts, and cartels working behind closed doors. Kaiser and Schot explain how EuropeanCommunity institutions grew from and remained embedded within this culture of technocratic internationalism. They also make clear, however, that it was a Janus-faced culture: on one side it heralded the vision of European integration as a path to peace and prosperity, but on the other side it was a taproot of the democratic deficit that plagues Europe today. Writing the Rules for Europe thus offers a compelling, powerfully argued, and much-needed rethink of the foundations of an integrating Europe, and readers will appreciate its crisp style and rich selection of illustrations."

Eda Kranakis, University of Ottowa, USA

Wolfram Kaiser is Professor of European Studies at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Belgium. He has published widely on European integration, Christian democracy and the history of globalisation. His books include (with S. Krankenhagen and K. Poehls) Exhibiting Europe in Museums: Transnational Networks, Collections, Narratives and Representations (2014), (ed. with J.-H. Meyer) Societal Actors in European Integration: Polity-building and Policy-making 1958-92, (ed. with A. Varsori) European Union History: Themes and Debates (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); Christian Democracy and the Origins of European Union (2007).

Johan Schot is Director of the Science Policy Research Unit and Professor in History of Technology at Sussex University, UK. In 2009 he was elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for his interdisciplinary work. He has published widely in several fields, including Dutch and European history, innovation studies, and sustainable development. His books include (with John Grin, Jan Rotmans) Transitions Towards Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term Transformative Change (2010), and (ed. with Harry Lintsen and Arie Rip), Technology and the Making of the Netherlands: The Age of Contested Modernization, (2010).