Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Economy of The Single Market
Chapter 1 : 75 years of European Integration : The main events and lessons - PART I
1. 75 years of the European Integration : An ever wider and deeper Europe : ! or ?
1.1. 1954-2008 : An ever wider and deeper Europe !!!
1.2. 2008-2019 : An ever wider and deeper Europe ???
1.1.1. Increasing Eurosepticism
1.1.2. The re-emerging of populism
1.1.3. 2019 : only a small virus
2. The emergence of a divided Europe : the beginning of the Cold War
2.1. The speech by Englishman that led to the use of starvation for political
coercion
2.1.1. The sinews of Peace-speeches
2.1.2. Stalin’s use of mass starvation for political coercion
2.2. A clear cut between Western and Earner’s Europe through the establishment
of several institutions
2.2.1. NATO (°1949)
2.2.2. BRD (°1949)
2.2.3. DDR (°1949)
2.2.4. The Iron Curtain (°1949)
- = E orts by SU to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with West and allied states
- Started from formation DDR (Republic Eastern part of Germany)
- How ?
- Border controls
- Barded wire, walls, land mines, towers
- Compare it to the wall between US and Mexico
- Not everything was protected -> people found their way in
- The name ‘Iron Curtain’
- = Metaphor for separation West and East
- Goes back to time where they had for reproof curtains in theatres to cut down re
- Churchill took name is famous speech
- Refers to barded wire along the border of the wall
- Common saying : “European construction was meant to keep
Americans in, Russians out and Germans down”
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, - European Integration was on the surface an eco project but deep down a military and political
policy project
2.2.5. The Warsaw Pact (°1955)
- Singed in 1955
- Military alliance pf communist countries that was signed as counterpart to the NATO
- 8 states : SU + Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania
- Yugoslavia not a member !
- Albania drew out in 1968
2.2.6. The Berlin Wall (°1961)
- Berlin : entirely communist territory -> West Berlin was Capitalist and belonged to Western Europe
- Berlin was surrounded by communist territory -> border between West and East Europe
- BUT : within Berlin -> people could move from West to East and inversely
- A lot of young, skilled people moved from East to West for more opportunities
- = Brain Drain for East Germany (highly skilled people leaving) -> 1949-1961
- Put and end to it -> Berlin Wall (43 km long) -> East said “made the wall to protect people from
fascist from the West”, in fact stop people from leaving East
- Created division of Eastern and Western Europe
2.2.7. The Brezhnev doctrine (°1968)
- Soviet sabotaged all reforms via eco pressure and military force
- Example : against independent movement in Hungary (1956)
- Why
- Soviets considered their system (communism) the best thing in the world + satellite states have
to obey otherwise soviets will send the army
- Brezhnev doctrine
- It stated: “When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some
socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned,
but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries.”
- Policy of military intervention was justi ed whenever a satellite state wanted to move from
communism (leave USSR)
- Why only in 1968
- To justify what he had done in the past (Hungary and Czechoslovakia), what he did worked
but in the end people became unhappy
- He wanted to show that Moscow was in power and the leader and that no satellite state was
allowed to leave USSR
4. Eastern Europe (1950-1990)
4.1. Life in the SU (1950-1985)
4.1.1. Stalinism
- Until 1953 (death of Stalin)
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,- Internal policy : dictator, personal glori cation (streets named after him, status), people were sent
to Gulag if not listening
- Socio-economic policy : state decided everything (what, when, were how much you earn)
- Plan life of all citizens, no unemployment, free health-care and free schooling
- To show people communist was the best
- In fact : working conditions were horrible, no freedom of speech, long hours, work discipline
- No focus on consumer goods (contrast with capitalist world -> focus on consumer society)
- But people did not realise it bc communist decided what is said on radio, showed on tv
- e.g. showed a movie about an orphan to children and they said this is how capitalist children
live (poverty, low class,…) -> people believed what was being said
- 5 years-plan focusing on heavy industry (= what you need in case of war)
4.1.2. Destalinization under Chroesjtsjov
- 1953-1964
- Internal policy : everything was rename (desalinisation)
- Communism is not bad but leader (Stalin) was -> bc he abused of his power
- Socio-economic policy : focus more on agricultural sector but problem remained
- e.g. over exploited land but wasn’t aware of the danger
- Focus on consumer goods e.g. Trabant car
4.1.3. the ‘old guys’ : Brezhnev, Andropov, Tsjernenko
- 1964 until 1985
- Brezhnev doctrine : sent army if not obey
- Internal policy : period of immobilism, people in power enriched themselves at the expense of the
poor
- People were very afraid to speak out to friends bc KGB was everywhere
- Dangerous to be involved in ‘Western things’
- “World of mass illusion” : individual part was part of a whole and white was part of individual
- Socio-economic policy : 5-year plan was not in one with reality
- E.g. rent a house : wait 15 years and once you get it, at is horrible
- Shortages in consumer goods -> wait 5 hours a day to get meat, eggs,… + bad quality
- Romanian saying : “if you do not have a granny, you better buy one”
- You better live with your granny and once she dies you get the at
- Bc people have to wait too long in line -> their granny’s are waiting in front of the store the
entire night to be the rst served in the morning
- Important to keep appearances good -> show to the West that everything was nice in the USSR
- By enormous military expenditures (e.g. mission on the moon)
- SU fell in eco, technological, social and military decline
- e.g. Tsjernobyl : people on the radio said it is okay only a small incident -> after some time they
said close the windows and it scared people (parents got their children out of school)
- SU did not react quickly enough and led to disaster
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, 4.2. Perestroika and Glasnot (1986)
4.2.1. By the mid-1980’s, the SU was completely paralysed
- 1961 : standards of living of East and West were similar but by 1980 : West’ economic and political
system was way better than East
- Why :
- 1965-1985 : area of stagnation : political and economic stagnation under president Brezhnev
- Leaders and lots of power and wealth -> became even richer on behalf of poor people (they
had nothing) so they did not feel the need for innovation
- No innovation led to a disadvantage of USSR compared to West
- Many recourses were used for nuclear arms race against West
- Halfway through 1980’s : soviet system forced changes in USSR itself
- Until then, only realised that Stalin was bad but still considered communism ad good thing
4.2.2. Communism with a human face
- 1985 : Gorbachev was elected ‘General Secretary’ of communist party
- Realised something was wrong
- Acknowledged total decline of SU
- Hoped to solve crisis with ‘revolutionary measures’
- Proposed 50% reduction in nuclear weapons -> to de-escalte Cold War -> proposal was
rejected)
- Sought middle ground between communism and capitalism
- “Communism with a human face”
- Communist regime but with political, economical, cultural and personal freedom
- Program of reform consisting in 3 parts
- Perestrojka : restructuring (economic reform)
- Economy was scaled back -> elements of free market was introduced (shops, pubs,
restaurant, supply/demand)
- People can choose what they want to produce -> never seen before in communism
- Glasnost : Openness/transaprancy
- Against corruption (Brezhnev, KGB,…)
- Make sure that power of people on top became smaller
- Implement real elections -> still one party (communist) but with multiple candidates
(progressive/conservative people)
- More spiritual freedom -> freedom from press (writing their thoughts down and talking
to people)
- For the rst time, soviet were able to read a newspaper about real SU conditions
(corruption, inadequate healthcare, eco problems,…)
- “New thinking” : complete new foreign policy
- Only possible if enough money (pursuing a less cost strategy than predecessors)
- Received Nobel price for wanting to end Cold War and built international peace
- Did not work !!
- Implemented it too quickly + when the people were asking themselves what is in there for me
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