Peace by supra-nationality: the driving forces of European integration

Four types of problems can be distinguished that give rise to the driving forces for European integration: preserving peace among sovereign states, containing a mighty German nation state in the middle of Europe, ensuring productivity against the isolation of small national markets, self-assertion in the face of the new world powers of the 20th century. These four motives have varied in strength, and they have not always worked in the same direction. The common necessity for unification faced different sensitivities and needs of the participating states. The resulting complications in the history of European integration notwithstanding the European Union constitutes an attempt to preserve and expand the civilizational achievements of the democratic nation-state under conditions of increasing globalization. The European project will not lead to the demise of nation-states, at least not for the foreseeable future. Instead, it constitutes the precondition for their survival, though within a common supra-national framework.