Shaping Europe: France, Germany, and Embedded Bilateralism from the Elysee Treaty to Twenty-First Century Politics: France, Germany, and Embedded ... Treaty to Twenty-First Century Politics - Softcover

For the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, Ulrich Krotz and Joachim Schild have provided all students of European and international politics with a special gifta theoretically highly original, empirically rich, and historically informed analysis of Europes most important relationship. This splendid book invites us to explore embedded bilateralism as a distinctive type of international relations. The rewards are fully commensurate with the political occasion this book marks. (Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University)

[A] stimulating study ... this significant work provokes reflection, and marks a valuable step forward in the study of the EU. (Roger Morgan, Times Higher Education)

At the core of contemporary Europe lies the bilateral relationship between France and Germany. What accounts for the success of this joint leadership role, and is it likely to continue in the future? Krotz and Schild argue that the success of the Franco-German duo should be seen as the result of creative leadership [that] created a unique symbolic relationship. Franco-German reconciliation became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as publics, politicians, and officials began to expect and promote further cooperation over time. (Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs)

Krotz and Schild make a powerful argument which should make their study of great interest to scholars of European integration and International Relations... [They] have produced an excellent book, which will become the new standard text for students of Franco-German relations. (Alister Miskimmon, International Affairs)

Krotz and Schild provide a highly interesting and innovative study explaining the enduring bilateral relationship between France and Germany, and its impact on European integration. Rigorous in analysis and documentation, their book is particularly valuable because it highlights the multiple causes and effects of Franco-German embeddedness in Europe. (Anne-Marie Le Gloannec, Research Director Centre dÉtudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI), Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (Sciences-Po), Paris)

[A] precise and comprehensive panorama of the past half century of Franco-German tandem. (Thomas Raineau, Journal of Common Market Studies)

Krotz and Schilds book should be highly welcomed by all EU scholars. (Christian Lequesne, West European Politics)

Krotz and Schild have done a great service in mapping the current and somewhat fraught Franco-German relationship onto its past ... the book is a careful and respectful piece of scholarship. (Erik Jones, Survival)

This remarkable book, covering a half century of Franco-German relations and European politics, reminds us that the obstacles faced by the two neighbors at the signing of the Elysée Treaty-and at various junctures since-while different, were no less politically momentous and historically significant than the challenges France and Germany encounter today. (Günther Nonnenmacher, Editor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

France and Germany have played a pivotal role in the history and politics of European integration. Yet, paradoxically, a study that systematically investigates the interrelated reality of Franco-German bilateralism and multilateral European integration has been conspicuously lacking. Formulating an approach the authors call "embedded bilateralism", this book offers exactly that. It scrutinizes in empirical and historical detail the bilateral Franco-German order and France and Germany's joint role in shaping Europe over the past half century. The book addresses two key questions regarding France and Germany in Europe from the Elysée Treaty to the twenty-first century: Why have France and Germany continued to hang together in an especially tight relationship for over five decades amidst frequently dramatic domestic change, lasting differences, and fundamental international transformation? And why has the joint Franco-German impact on shaping Europe's polity and European policies, while fundamental, proved so uneven across political domains and time? In answer to the first question, Shaping Europe argues that the actions and practices of the Franco-German order-its regularized bilateral intergovernmentalism, symbolic acts and practices, and parapublic underpinnings-together have rendered this bilateral connection historically resilient and politically adaptable. Regarding the second question, the book holds that different combinations of a limited number of factors located at the bilateral, domestic, regional European, and international levels explain central aspects of variation. Together, these factors condition and modulate France and Germany's joint impact on Europe. In pursuing its research questions, theoretical work, historical reconstructions, and empirical analyses, Shaping Europe fruitfully combines the study of European integration, EU politics and policymaking, Franco-German affairs, and French and German politics with general theorizing and conceptual grounding in international relations and political science.