Random musings in international economic relations, eurozone travails and digital history.
After months of hesitation, I started using Tropy last December. My hesitation was due to the fact that I was trying to find a specific sub-project that could provide a good opportunity to start. Back then I often looked for descriptions of other experiences online but found few of them, I thought I’d share mine.
An ongoing research project at Bruegel is seeking to quantify and analyse national printed media discourses about Europe over the decades since the end of the second world war. A first snapshot screened more than 2.8 million articles in Le Monde, out of which 750,000 speak about “Europe”.
The recent State of the Union speech by Jean-Claude Juncker sparked a discussion about the potential wider use of the euro on the international stage. Historically, it is not the first debate of this kind. I review four previous cases of debates on international currencies to reveal the different scenarios associated with their greater use, as well as the need to have a clear objective for a currency’s internationalisation.
A US president taking a unilateral decision that affects European interests. European policymakers outraged at US interference in their affairs. European businesses fearing losing access to some international markets. Sound familiar? This is the story of a crisis that took place in 1982 regarding the Siberian gas pipeline project; its outcome should inspire optimism in the Europeans’ capacity to counteract Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Iranian nuclear deal.
Un rapport révélé par Le Monde propose de limiter la récolte d’archives à ce qu’il nomme des « archives essentielles ». Tous les historiens ressassent, depuis quelques jours, cette expression à l’emporte-pièce, car elle touche au cœur de notre travail. Pourquoi et comment ? J’ai voulu détailler un petit exemple tiré de ma propre recherche pour le montrer.
Franco-German relations as the ‘engine’ of European integration are widely perceived to have stalled in recent years. This policy contribution assesses what the Franco-German relationship can achieve, what its shortcomings are, and what it means for the wider governance of the euro area and the European Union.