The Schuman plan and the British abdication of leadership in Europe

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 17, 2024 | History

The Schuman plan and the British abdication of leadership in Europe

This book provides the first detailed examination of the Attlee government's rejection of British participation in the Schuman Plan in 1950, and hence of a leading role in fashioning European political and economic integration. Many received myths are contested: the Schuman Plan was not a bolt from the blue; domestic political circumstances did not make it impossible for Britain to join; participation would not have been incompatible with Britain's global and Commonwealth roles.

Edmund Dell assesses Ernest Bevin's conduct as Foreign Secretary during this last year of his life: in declining health but still believing himself indispensable, he was arrogantly mistaken about the Schuman Plan and lacked colleagues of comparable stature able to tell him he was wrong. The only hope was Stafford Cripps, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he was on the point of resignation due to ill-health and lacked the energy to press his doubts. Ministerial inadequacy was compounded by the Foreign Office, the leading officials in which were no less arrogant and quite as blind to the implications of the proposal.

The consequence was a major policy failure which has influenced Britain's relations with its European partners right up to the present. Edmund Dell works with archival evidence, and the memoirs of participants, to place these events in the context of the 'big questions' dominating British policy formation: security, the dollar shortage, and the difficult relationship with an American administration intent both on attacking the sterling area and pressing for European federation.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
323

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Previews available in: English

Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-309) and index.

Published in
Oxford, New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
337.4104
Library of Congress
HF1534.5.E9 D45 1995, HF1534.5.E9D45 1995

The Physical Object

Pagination
xiv, 323 p. ;
Number of pages
323

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL1118307M
Internet Archive
schumanplanbriti0000dell
ISBN 10
0198289677
LCCN
94044523
OCLC/WorldCat
31740205
Goodreads
7106756

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