Overview

A Europe Made of Money is a new history of the making of the European Monetary System (EMS), based on extensive archive research. Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol highlights two long-term processes in the monetary and economic negotiations in the decade leading up to the founding of the EMS in 1979. The first is a transnational learning process involving a powerful, networked European monetary elite that shaped a habit of cooperation among technocrats. The second stresses the importance of the European Council, which held regular meetings between heads of government beginning in 1974, giving EEC legitimacy to monetary initiatives that had previously involved semisecret and bilateral negotiations. The interaction of these two features changed the EMS from a fairly trivial piece of administrative business to a tremendously important political agreement. The inception of the EMS was greeted as one of the landmark achievements of regional cooperation, a major leap forward in the creation of a unified Europe. Yet Mourlon-Druol's account stresses that the EMS is much more than a success story of financial cooperation. The technical suggestions made by its architects reveal how state elites conceptualized the larger project of integration. And their monetary policy became a marker for the conception of European identity. The unveiling of the EMS, Mourlon-Druol concludes, represented the convergence of material interests and symbolic, identity-based concerns.

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Reviews

Adds pieces to what is likely to be an important historiographical puzzle for some years to come. -Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2013 At a time when the problems in the euro zone are frequently in the news, it is wise to consider the nature and origins of its immediate predecessor. Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, of the University of Glasgow and the London School of Economics, has written a thorough description and analysis of the political and economic developments that led to the establishment, in 1979, of the European Monetary System [EMS]. -Jerry Mushin, EH.NET (November 2012) The book is well researched and clearly written. It relies on an impressive amount of archival material. The author does an excellent job in explaining with Cartesian clarity, who did what, when, how and most importantly why. -Lucia Quaglia, Journal of European Integration History (July 2013) Highly informative, thoughtful and based on an impressive range of sources...Above all his thesis about the role of the European Council and the predominantly political meaning of the European Monetary System is well substantiated. The debate that has been going on for a few years about the relationship between civil society's transnational networks and political decisions should continue for the coming years. -Guido Thiemeyer, Francia, 2012-4 The book is an excellent contribution to European economic history. It illustrates the critical role of political elites and European institutions, particularly the EU Council, in shaping the multi-level governance framework of EMU. It is crucial reading for those wanting to understand the problems afflicting the Eurozone today. -Aidan Regan, LSE Review of Books, Feb. 2013 Mourlon-Druol describes the process leading to the birth of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1979... This work makes extensive use of a number of archives across Europe and will be valuable for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the emergence of the EMS. -Choice (January 2013) In A Europe Made of Money, Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol explains the origins of European monetary cooperation and the challenges to the wider processes of European integration posed by the global economic transformation of the 1970s. This book is contemporary international history at its very best and provides necessary background for understanding today's travails in the Eurozone. -O. A. Westad, London School of Economics and Political Science, author of China and the World: The Origins of Chinese Global Power from 1750 to Today Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol has written an exemplary work of historical research: elegant, clear, empirically strong, and theoretically challenging, both to historians and political scientists. Essential reading for all specialists of European integration and highly recommended to anyone wishing to fully understand the current Euro-crisis. -Youssef Cassis, European University Institute

<p> Mourlon-Druol describes the process leading to the birth of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1979. . . . This work makes extensive use of a number of archives across Europe and will be valuable for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the emergence of the EMS. Choice (January 2013)

<p> Mourlon-Druol describes the process leading to the birth of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1979. . . . This work makes extensive use of a number of archives across Europe and will be valuable for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the emergence of the EMS. -Choice (January 2013)

<p> Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol has written an exemplary work of historical research: elegant, clear, empirically strong, and theoretically challenging, both to historians and political scientists. Essential reading for all specialists of European integration and highly recommended to anyone wishing to fully understand the current Euro-crisis. -Youssef Cassis, European University Institute

Author Information

Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol is Research Associate in the Department of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow, and Associate in the Transatlantic Programme of the IDEAS Centre, London School of Economics.

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