Histories of the European Parliament during the Cold War: Transnational Democracy in the Making?

Abstract

This article introduces and discusses the incipient historiography of the European Parliament. It argues that more systematic research in this direction has strong potential to overcome limitations of research both on European integration and the member states. It can encourage and support those working on national history, or histories, to leave their intellectual ghettos and explore both vertical and horizontal connections in contemporary European history. Researching and writing about the history of the European Parliament can also contribute to a broader interdisciplinary debate about transnational democracy beyond the state, in what is now the highly institutionalised and legally integrated European Union. Focussing on the period of the Cold War, the article sets out a research agenda for addressing the internal politics of the European Parliament, its role in post-war European democracy and polity-building; and its underrated contribution to the Europeanization of policymaking. What could result is, befitting for a pluralistic democratic institution, not one, but several histories of the European Parliament and transnational democracy.