Europe and Its Empires: From Rome to the European Union*
Gary Marks
Abstract This article claims that the territorial structure of government results from a tension between scale and community. The benefits arise nature public goods, include economic exchange, political power protection against external shocks. Communities are double‐edged in they characterized by parochial altruism. Altruism social solidarity facilitate within communities, but attachments constrain among communities. Scale community, as theorized here, provide setting for strategic choice. Both flux patterns human interaction change, itself shapes those patterns. Evidence is drawn five largest polities history western Europe: Roman Empire, Frankish Napoleonic France, Third Reich European Union.
JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies|VU Research Portal (Elsevier)|VU Research Portal (Elsevier)