3 - The Fragmented Continent: The Invention of European Pluralism in History Writing from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-first Century

Summary

Abstract

This chapter argues that the language of European pluralism, understood here as the idea that Europe's essence is the lack of (political, economic, religious and cultural) unity, is not a mere descriptive discourse, but has a strong prescriptive character. European pluralism became part of a comprehensive historical narrative of Europe during the Enlightenment. In the view of nineteenth-century historians of Europe, it was precisely the lack of unity and consequent internal struggle that had resulted in Europe's extraordinary cultural, economic and political dynamism and progress. These ideas were rediscovered during and after World War I and World War II, as part of the attempt to politically and morally reconstruct the European order against both American capitalism and Soviet communism. After the end of the Cold War, the pluralist narrative even gained new prominence in the post-1989 surge in histories of Europe and student textbooks. The pluralist idea of Europe did not exclude a Eurocentrist worldview but, on the contrary, often formed an important basis for ideas of Europe's superiority and uniqueness.

Keywords: pluralism, Enlightenment, historiography, narratives, Cold War

The Fragmented Continent

‘Europe is the smallest continent. […] But in the intensity of its internal differences and contrasts, Europe is unique.’ This general characterization of Europe and European history was given by the English-American historian Tony Judt (1948-2010) in the introduction to his seminal book Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (2005). According to this eminent historian, ‘Europe’ presented an exception in global perspective as it is a geopolitical entity above all characterized by contrasts instead of unity. This idea of Europe's ‘unique contrasting nature’ can be found in most other histories of Europe, published by academics, politicians and bestselling authors after 1989. Norman Davies, for instance, has written: ‘[S]ince Europe has been never been politically united, diversity has evidently provided one of its most enduring characteristics. […] There is lasting diversity in the national states and cultures which persist within European civilisations as whole.’

The conception of European history as essentially ‘fragmentary’ has also been picked up by the controversial politician and historian Henry Kissinger in his book World Order (2014). In this book, Kissinger analyses the current state of international affairs from a long-term historical perspective.