The Failure of the European Project: An Anarcho-Pacifist Critique

The path that the European project took could have been different. The competing visions of an integrated Europe which germinated in the nineteenth century did so on ideological landscape cross-fertilised by the blossoming of various internationalist ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, anarchism, and pacifism. Revisiting and updating arguments articulated by a stance which combines the latter two, informed therefore by the more radical edge of ideological continuums concerned with peace and socio-economic justice, what became of the European project failed on four counts. First, functionalist integration might have powered economic growth, trade, and integration, but it has repeatedly shown too little after-thought for the economically left-behind, and too little concern for the perpetuation of neo-colonial dependencies and inequalities. Second, European internationalism might have brought peace between historically belligerent regional powers, but tensions with the Soviet bloc and neo-colonial wars have entrenched a vibrant militarism disguised in soothing normative messaging, whilst peace within the European bloc has come at the expense of ongoing structural violence. Third, the EU might provide a model of multilayer governance and subsidiarity, but its democratic accountability is deficient, its subsidiarity impeded by tenacious Westphalian imaginaries, and the most influential levers of multi-layered sovereign power captured by the interests of international capital. Fourth, Europe might portray itself as a model of normative and soft power, but this glances over the impact of fortress Europe on trade and migration, the mercantilist lobbying for European economic champions and interests, and the dirtier work which Europe is happy to let its transatlantic ally lead on and benefit from. In short, sharpening existing criticisms of the EU with an anarcho-pacifist focus, this paper argues that the EU’s neoliberal capitalist internationalism falls short of its self-assured rhetoric and aspirations on economics, peace, multiplayer politics and the place of Europe in the world.