Book Reviews Murray, Philomena, and Paul Rich (eds), Visions of European Unity. Boulder: Westview Press, 1996. The recent theoretical trend towards a re-emphasis of the role of ideas in world politics is only just reaching the study of European integration. This collection of essays on ideas of European unity from the inter-war period to the present, edited by an Australian and a British scholar, takes its place among a surprisingly modest number of books in recent years which trace the ideational origins of European integration. These authors are, to be sure, unconcerned with revising history, uncovering new sources, or recasting philosophical traditions. They seek instead to present an introduction to the rich variety of European visions during the inter-war period, in the midst of World War II, among classical functionalists and federalists like Monnet and Spinelli, and in the partisan spectrum of post-war Europe. Yet for those who believe in the causal importance of ideas in European integration, or in world politics more generally, this book poses a fundamental challenge: Given the continuous emergence of infinitely varied blueprints for European unity throughout this century, how do we explain why certain ideas were selected by policy-makers? Can such an explanation itself be ideational? Andrew Moravcsik Center for European Studies, Harvard University
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