Introduction

In troduction J-JET us suppose that I were to maintain that import restrictions gain us the friendship of neighboring countries, exchange controls enhance the freedom of citizens, and the nationalization and blocking of foreigners' property make for close international cooperation and integration. Thus stated these propositions might indeed seem startling for an economist to advance. And yet contemporary economic thought as advocated by numerous famous economists and accepted by many governments consists precisely of such propositions. They urge us to adopt policies of welfare planning which depend for their effectiveness on import and export prohibitions, tariffs, exchange controls, and many other government measures of enforcement. But simultaneously the governments whom they urge to impose discriminatory restrictions are to cooperate with each other in the elimination of the very effects which restrictions bring about.

Policies of government planning and welfare and the disintegration of the world economy into heterogeneous national units are two aspects of the same phenomenon. Like a coin on whose two sides two different symbols are impressed, government planning and the disintegration of the world market are two aspects of a single problem. The upper side of the coin, visible and familiar to everybody, shows the fascinating picture of a welfare state designed by our welfare economists and put into effect by progressive governments. The other side of the coin reveals a picture that indicates the price, expressed in terms of economic nationalism and international conflict, which must be paid for the realization of the welfare state. That is to say, every welfare measure by a national government bears inescapable effects on foreign relations and the international exchange of goods. 1 * HOW CAN EUROPE SURVIVE Long before our age of world wars and welfare states, men dreamed of a united Europe. Plans of unification always emerged when the system of political organization resulted in disintegration and separation. During the age of mercantilism, Europe was always fighting or preparing to fight. Throughout this period numerous writers and statesmen devised plans for states to pool part of their sovereign powers or to create systems of collective security and permanent international arbitration. Men were dreaming and praying for perpetual peace and international cooperation.1 During the nineteenth century the idea of European unity receded into the background. It was a century of individual freedom and decreasing international restrictions upon the movement of men, goods, and capital. The world economy was an interdependent system, on the way to economic unification which makes political unification irrelevant. It was an era of unprecedented progress.

The liberal century was followed by the age of economic and social planning. And, again, ready plans for international unification and government cooperation followed the early symptoms of disintegration and international conflict. In order to stem the inescapable effects of prevailing political and social ideologies, modern writers and statesmen began to design ready solutions. "Europe must unite," said Winston Churchill. "The Western nations must unite," said others. And these admonitions have been echoed again and again by such people as Paul van Zeeland, Leon Blum, General de Gaulle, Count Sforza, Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman and many other European and American statesmen and politicians. Scarcely a dissenting voice is heard. Everybody concerned agrees and nobody objects. Every sort of association for unification is formed, and an immense literature is written about the last choice open to the Western nations: unite or perish.

To prevent the inescapable effects of our economic and social policies, we are urged to unite. But can we counteract the effects through unification and continue to adhere to the causes of disintegration? Our contemporary adherents of unification assure us we can. You are free to continue your social and economic policies, they say, provided you unite. A selection of famous doctrines and plans of unification is analyzed in Part Two of this treatise. As will be shown, most of the ready plans and schemes offer government cooperation as the panacea for present deplorable world conditions. Scarcely an author has 1 For a historical presentation of the United Europe idea, see Edouard Bonnefous, L'Europe face a son destin, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1952.

INTRODUCTION 3 ever dealt with the causes of disintegration and disunity. But as long as the causes of conflict are not recognized and removed, there cannot be cooperation. A plan that neglects to go to the root of the evil must, therefore, be found wanting and superficial. The several institutions for the promotion of unity set up by Western European governments are analyzed in Part Three. They are examined in the light of the compatibility of their functions with the true principles of unification. Where the objectives and means applied by the several institutions are found to be incompatible with the principles of unification, failure is believed to be inevitable. In Part Four, the author is searching for a world economy of peaceful cooperation, a world without trade barriers and restrictions upon the liberty of man, a world without incentives for war and aggression. He commends his conclusions to all men working and praying for peace and the advancement of mankind.