The European Coal and Steel Community has been called "a new structure in the marches between internal and international law. " 1 To describe this new type of structure the term "supra national" has found increasing usage. Supranational organs have been defined as standing "midway between 'international' and federal organs. " International organizations - such as the United Nations or the Council of Europe - are based on the "sovereign equality" of their members and non-intervention in domestic affairs; they are really at the intergovernmental level. Supra national organs transcend international organizations in both these respects without, however, constituting a federal state. They are based "not on a mere restriction, but on a transfer of [national] sovereignty, but a transfer of sovereignty in a particu lar area only. " 2 This pilot experiment in supranational organization is of twofold importance. In the first place, although operating on a regional level only, it could teach valuable lessons concerning future attempts at world organization through the "functional approach. " In Prof. Mitrany's words, national divisions must be overlaid "with a spreading web of international activities and agencies, in which and through which the interests and life of all the nations would be gradually integrated. " 3 The Coal and Steel Community could be an excellent testing ground for the develop ment of an international community, growing from the satis faction of common needs which people of different nations share.

This book outlines the content of the main treaties that form the 'constitutional' basis of the European Union and analyses changes in these over time. The EU has expanded its policy scope and taken in many more members transferring powers to common supranational institutions in a way seen nowhere else in the world.

Western Europe's recovery from World War II was nothing short of miraculous. From the chaos of the war and the crisis of 1947, Europe moved directly to the most rapid quarter-century of economic growth in her history. The contributors to this volume seek to identify the sources of this singularly successful recovery. That all European countries shared in the miracle suggests that its roots may lie at the international level. The chapters therefore focus on the role played by international institutions - the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Payments Union, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - and weigh the relative importance of domestic and international factors in Europe's postwar recovery. This book will be of interest to students of modern European history and to economists interested in economic growth, European economic integration, and reform of the Bretton Woods institutions.

The European Coal and Steel Community was founded in 1952 to create a common European market in coal, iron ore, scrap and steel and marked the first attempt to forge a common market within Europe. Fraught with economic and political difficulties it did record some significant achievements and its successes and failures helped create the shape that European integration was to take in the second half of the 20th century.