The Europeanization of the nation-state

Abstract

This article explores the interrelationship between national and supranational politics in contemporary history. In Europe, the nature of national and transnational politics, law and economics has been completely transformed through the emergence of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Community (EC). We cannot understand the European nation-state (and its regions) without appreciating the EC's or EU's dynamic (and often asymmetric) impact on public law, economics, the environment, social legislation, human rights and culture. This Europeanization of the nation-state has affected in different ways members and non-members of the EC and EU. The interplay between national and transnational politics, while not unique to the contemporary world, presents particular challenges to the contemporary historian. The enmeshing of national and supra-as well as international spheres means that the contemporary state cannot be analysed with the same tools and assumptions about political sovereignty as its nineteenth-century predecessors. Instead, this article calls for a greater readiness to engage in the complexities of national and EC/EU history and engage in a new dialogue with other disciplines, notably the political sciences. © 2011 The Author(s).