Overview

In The European Commission of the Danube, 1856-1948 Constantin Ardeleanu offers a history of the world’s second international organisation, an innovative techno-political institution established by Europe’s Concert of Powers to remove insecurity from the Lower Danube. Delegates of rival empires worked together to ‘correct’ a vital European transportation infrastructure, and to complete difficult hydraulic works they gradually transformed the Commission into an actor of regional and international politics. As an autonomous and independent organ, it employed a complex transnational bureaucracy and regulated shipping along the Danube through a comprehensive set of internationally accepted rules and procedures. The Commission is portrayed as an effective experimental organisation, taken as a model for further cooperation in the international system.

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Reviews

The story of the European Commission of the Danube, set up at the end of the Crimean War to reopen the mouths of one of Europe's longest rivers for maritime commerce, proves an absorbing one in the hands of Constantin Ardeleanu [...] the author makes a convincing case for regarding the ECD as 'a Europe in miniature', a sort of poster-child for international cooperation and regulation. The book is clearly and engagingly written, largely free from technocratic jargon. Ian D. Armour, in Slavonic and East European Review

"""Constantin Ardeleanu goes beyond the study of the Danube to offer a complementary perspective on international cooperations, as studied today in history, political science and in the social sciences generally […] This work prompts reflection on our present-day debates and controversies around the construction of a European community’."" Emmanuel Bioteau, in Francia-Recensio, 4 (2021) “The story of the European Commission of the Danube, set up at the end of the Crimean War to reopen the mouths of one of Europe’s longest rivers for maritime commerce, proves an absorbing one in the hands of Constantin Ardeleanu […] the author makes a convincing case for regarding the ECD as ‘a Europe in miniature’, a sort of poster-child for international cooperation and regulation. The book is clearly and engagingly written, largely free from technocratic jargon.” Ian D. Armour, in Slavonic and East European Review"

Author Information

Constantin Ardeleanu, Ph.D. (2006), ‘Nicolae Iorga’ Institute of History, Bucharest, is Professor of Modern History at the ‘Lower Danube’ University (Galaţi). In previous years he was a Research Fellow at Utrecht University and New Europe College (Bucharest).

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