The Institutions and Dynamics of the European Community, 1973-83

The years 1973-1983 in the history of the European integration process are flanked by two periods of great expansion in the membership of the European Community and in its policies. By contrast, these ‘middle’ years have been described as a period characterised by economic crisis and stagnation. In this volume a group of international historians take a fresh look at this period of European integration. Based on fresh archival research and interviews the volume offers a new look on the history of this distinct époque of European integration. Overall, the contributions take up a re-interpretation of the period as a period of crisis and stagnation and offer a discussion of the importance of the developments in the period for the resurgence of the integration process in the subsequent époque of Commission president Jacques Delors.