8/12/2019 [1990] Andr Gunder Frank. Europe From Helsinki to Finland is at Ion (In: Economic and Political Weekly)

1/3

Europe from Helsinki to FinlandisationAuthor(s): Andre Gunder FrankSource: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jan. 13, 1990), pp. 90-91Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4395800

Accessed: 21/10/2008 23:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=epw.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the

scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that

promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Economic and Political Weeklyis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Economic and Political Weekly.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4395800?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=epwhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=epwhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4395800?origin=JSTOR-pdf

8/12/2019 [1990] Andr Gunder Frank. Europe From Helsinki to Finland is at Ion (In: Economic and Political Weekly)

2/3

The resultsaredisappointing,not becausethey cannot live up to the rhetoric of thefounding fathers,butto theirown historicalpast. This was,after all, the land that pro-ducedancientcities ike Moenjodaro ndthegrandeur of empires like those of theMauryasandthe Mughals; hearchitecturaland artisticwondersof the Ajantacaves, heChola temples, the Shalimar gardens inKashmirand the TEajMahal in Agra.OnceGandhi,contemplatinghe west andits technologycould say,"they are childrenplayingwith razors", thought also expres-sed by Iqbal. Rajivhappily playedwith therazor,nickinghimself n the processwith theBofors scandal. South Asia, it appears,shorn of humanism,devoidof its sense ofdestiny,cannot resist.At best it can imitate.It is the period of amoralwhiz-kids,com-puter ex.pertsand statistics. Where oncecommentatorswere mpressedwith Mahat-ma Gandhi's mnoral tature, it is India's

armedforces, he fourth argest n the worldwhich, if anything, impresses them now.The links with the past are not entirelybroken:RajivGandhi, like his grandfather,is a Trinity man, Benazir, like her father,went to Oxford. Iqbal's grandson is atCambridge. But the cradleof humanism,whichsparked deas in South Asia, is itselfalmost bankrupt. ts humanism s assumed,

but in danger of being mutated beyondrecognition along the highwayto materia-lism. Thatcherism s but one sample of thismutation. If South Asia has no Jinnah orGandhi, Europedoes not havea ChurchillorDe Gaulleeither.Unless SouthAsiansareable to recreatea vestige of humanism-aclimate of tolerance, a respect for theminoritiesandless privileged,a rule of law,an atmosphereof integrity-the futuremaybe paintedwith Lebanesehues. South Asiais on the threshold of a new age.Europe from Helsinki toFinlandisationAndre Gunder FrankEastern and Central Europe, and in its centre Germany, have nowmoved to the top of the political, strategic and economic agendain Europe and much of the world. However, the questions ofwhether and how to (re)unify Europe and (re)unite Germany willnot be so quickly settled.GERMANY anidEastern Europe have sud-denly advanced to the top of the Europeanagenda. Yet Eastern Europe, not to mentionthe Soviet Union, remained beyond the palewhen in 1983 1 argued for The EuropeanChallenge: From Atlantic Alliance to Pan-European Enterite for Peace and Jobs.' Isaid that world economic and strategicdevelopments would open a door of politicalopportunity for East-West European rap-prochement. Xit, even six,months ago, WestEuropeans were still only concerned abouttheir own integration in 1992, while EastEuropeans were even more intent on theirdomestic political problems. So under thetitle 'World Debt, the European Challengeand 1992'2 I returned to my theme to arguethat recent and proba;'1e near futureeconomic and strategic d:i 2i:opmentswouldlead immediately to il.> orway of Pan-European integration. F.ropean inte-gration must reach out (- more urgentlytowards Easterin Euron- and the SovietUnion, who would be knocking on the door.I argued that the prinicipal obstacle wouldbe French jealousy of Germany. Germanyitself, or Britain's reservations about Europeunder Margaret Thatchier, or even possibleAmerican and/or Soviet security demandswould not pose serious obstacles to greaterand faster European unification. My for-mula wvas Finno-Jugoslavisation of EasternEurope and Swedo-AustrianisItion ofWestern Europe".

Eastern and Central Europe, and in itscentreGermany,have nowmovedto the topof the political, strategic, and economicagenda in Europeand muchof the world.Economic imperativeshave indeed shapedpolitical agenciesthroughGorbachFv's allfor a "Common European Home", theliberalisation of the state and governmentin Hungaryand the Solidaritygovernmentin Polandin the summerof 1989,and mostdramaticallyby the holes punched in TheWall in Berlin on November 9. Now herBritishTorycolleagues hemselvesare likelyto amputateThatcher'sdragging oot, withwhich she wants to slow down monetary,economic,andsocial union amongthe WestEuropean 12.(Dennis Healy called her theErich Honekerof the West,a week beforethe latter took his leave.) The Frenchwantto make haste to consolidate the (West)EuropeanCommunityand theirown placein the EEC, while the Germansare moreintent on reaching out eastward andexpanding/strengtheningheir own place inall of Europe-to the chagrinof the French.Thatis anotherreasonwhythe Britishmustbecome more Europeanfast-to safeguardtheir placeandhelpmaintainsome balancein Europe.In the meantime, he presidentof UnitedStates, George Bush, travelledto Warsawand Budapest, ndhe is nowfollowedbythepresident of the European Commission,JacquesDelors.On his return rom the East,

Bush told the other G7 leadersat theirParissummit in July last year that the (West)Europeansshould handle the problems ofEastern Europe themselves. The (West)EuropeanParliamentnow asks itself whatto do about EasternEurope.Eventsaro4indThe Wall mpelled FrenchpresidentNlitter-rand to call a special meeting of (West)EuropeanCommunity leaders n Paris. Nodoubt, the December "Yalta to Malta"meeting betweenpresidentsGorbachevandBush on ships n the Mediterranean ow willalso focus on (East)European evelopments.However, heyshouldsymbolically hift theirvenue to Berlin and Potsdam-whereTrumanand Stalin already startedthe coldwar in 1945. They could also hold a jointpublic session with invited German andother European eadersfrom East and Westunderthe Brandenburger orand/or on thePotsdammer Platz. Finally, all could takehome some pieces of the wall as souvenirsof the cold war, which is now over, and ofthe division of Europe, which is nowuntenable and superfluous.

Still, these leaders and meetings will notso quickly settle the questions of whetherand how to (re)unify Europe and perhap,to (re)uniteGermany nd Berlin n itscentre.The followingquestions, and some possibleanswers, remain open among others.-Do NATOandthe WarsawPact now haveusefulroles (more han before)?Yes,butnotto safeguard earlier American, Soviet andother interests in the division of EuropebetweenEast andWest.Instead, healliancescan now offer some stability through thetransitionto greaterEuropeanunification.EvenSovietand Americansecurity nterestscan be furtheredbetter by a stably unitedEurope than by divided or unstable ones.-Is 1992still a milestone n European nte-gration? Yes,but not for the constructionof a FortressWesternEurope.Instead, 1992shouldleadto the progressive ssociationofmore and more Europeans in concentriccirclesaround the EECand Germany.Theassociation of EFTA to the EEC could beon, outer circle,andthe progressive ssocia-tion of East Europeancountries to EFTAordirectly o theEEC couldbe another.Theforces of world economic competition areengendering regionalisation and possiblebloc formation anyway. In this world,American and Japaneseled regions (not tomention any jointly run Pacific Basin)canbe better counteredby morePan-Europeanthan only EEC integration.-Does a severerecessionstillpose a threatbefore 1992? Yes, but an insufficientlyappreciated ne,as I argued n 'Blocking heBlack Debt Hole in the 1990s' 3 However,WestEuropean nvestments n and exportsto Eastern Europe and the Soviet Unioncould act as an important timulating actoror palliative o recession n the Westand fullblowneconomicandsocialcrisis n the East.The opening of the BerlinWalland GermanChanceller Kohl's trip to Poland havedramatisedand stimulated theseeconomicpossibilities, especially for Germany.The

90 Economic and P?oliticalWeekly January 13, 1990

8/12/2019 [1990] Andr Gunder Frank. Europe From Helsinki to Finland is at Ion (In: Economic and Political Weekly)

3/3

short run transitionarycosts of increasingeconomic ntegration nd marketisation oware less than the long run costs of post-poning them to later.-Is reunificationof Germanyand Berlinaserious prospect?Yes,but not necessarily nthe short run (most East Germans don'twant it) nor in isolation from Europeanunity. Nor needpolitical precedesocial andeconomic unification. Instead progressshould be the other way around. Germanunification can betterbe furthered hroughand within Pan-Europeanunity. Even con-tinued Germanmembership n their respec-tive andstillsurvivingmilitaryalliancescanfurtherEuropeanunity andGermanunifica-tion bycontributing o demilitarisationandconfidence building in Central Europe.Within hiscontext,Germans antake manysteps towards (re)unification by (re)insti-tuting cross border travel, some back andforth movementof workers,trade and in-vestment,and pf courseculturalexchanges,not only with each other,but also with theirneighbours, East and West.-Are enhanced East-WestGerman (andEuropean) social and economic relationsproblematic?Yes,probablymore so thantheinitialeuphoriasuggets.With open borders,less East Germanswill forsake heir relativewelfarestate securityto competedirectly nthe market n theWest.Therefore, herewillalsobe limits to their stimulationof housingconstructionand consumer ales n the West.However,continued 10to 1mark exchangeratesandconsumersubsidies n the Eastcanencourage West German capital and evenconsumers to increase demand for scarceresourcesand production in the East. Thiscould destabilise the economy in the East(andto a lesserextentin the West)and forcethe pace of convertibility n exchangerates,and greater similarity in prices, socialsecurity,patternsof consumptionand pro-duction, yes and of unemployment andpoverty, etc, between East and WestGermany, ndat a furtherremove n Europe.For the Soviet Union, EasternEurope hasbecome more of a burden than an assetwhile it can be a boon for WesternEurope.The social andpolitical costs of this,transi-tion canbereduced-but noteliminated-bytimelyawarenessof these problemsand by'planning' for their resolution. Illusions ofequalityand welfare or all would, however,be subjectto the dangersof explosionwhenthey become untenable.What would some helpful instead ofharmful steps be?-Abandon the Giscard-Schmidtproposalof buildingthe (West)EuropeanEconomicCommunity around a Franco-Germanmilitary axis for 'security' against the'enemy'in the East. Obviate this proposalbv extending eastward the reach of someWest European institutions, such as theEuropeanCommission, parliamentand theCouncil of Europe;and extend he relationsof Comecon westward.Also facilitate nter-national collaboration among NGOs andsocial movements n a CitizensEurope o be

run not only by business, banks, govern-ments, and international institutions andalliances.All couldbettercollaborate n Pan-Europeanmovementsof goods and people,and particularly to collaborate in theamelioration of ecological and securityproblems of interestto all Europeans.-Maintain NATO(with a more Europeanpillar) and the WarsawPact as long as theyare useful to help sustain stability and con-fidence among their members and now tojointly promote the withdrawalof foreigntroops, arms reduction, defensive defenceand collective security throughout Europe.-Leave the two Germanies n their respec-tive but changing alliances. That is saferthan trying to integrate the GDR into theBRD and NATO and to destablise theWarsawPact-and thereby he world. Eventhe neutralisationof both Germanies,notto mention of a united Germany,outsidetheir(therebypractically estroyed) llianceswould be more destabilising than usingexisting formal institutions to change theirinternal content and externalrelations.-Maintain otherexisting post-warbordersin Europe as long as possible, but worktowardsother andintegrating esolutionsofnational and ethnic grievances. Moreinternalnationaland externalPan-Europeanintegration s preferable o more Balkanisa-tion, even or especially in the Balkans-Resolve economic crisis and forestallpolitical upheaval through economic co-operation and integration before the ag-gravationof economiccrisis fuels flames ofethnic and other discontentwithhopes thatthe grass is greenerQn the other side. In

particular, akemultilateralEuropeanwidesteps to reduce the burdens of foreign anddomestic debt on those least able to bearthem in Poland, Hungary, Jugoslavia andelsewhere in Eastern Europe. A Eurofundcreated for the purpose could become thede facto germ of a EuropeanCentralBank.Promote multilateraland bilateral financeof all kinds of joint ventures in theirbroadest sense of the word.-Put both WorldWarII and the Cold Warfinally to restthrough a PeaceTreaty o besigned by the four powers and all otherinterestedparties at another internationalconference modelled on the Helsinki pro-cess, this time perhaps underUN-auspices.The Peace Treaty should confirm andguarantee existing borders, especiallyGerman ones, and calm the fears of Polesand others. Versaillesopened the door toHitler and another war, and Yalta andPotsdampromoted he Cold War.Therefore,a new Peace Treatynow should and couldprovide for moresecure yet flexible institu-tional mechanisms for possible futurevoluntary and negotiated alterations n thepolitical, social, cultural, and economicarrangements nherited from WorldWarsIand II. Now the motto could be fromHelsinki to the Finlandisation of Europe.

Notes1 Nottingham: Spokesmen Press 1983.2 Economic and Political Weekly, April 29,1989.3 Economic and Political Weekly, October 21,1989.

SOUTHASIAN STRATEGICSSUESSRI Lankan PerspectivesSHELTON KODIKARAeditor)

Sri Lanka's lace inthe South Asianstates-systemhas undergone a fundamentalchangein recent years. This s partly a resultof the aggravationand subsequent internationalisa-tion of ethnic tension in the island and partly because its strategic importance to In-dia has been considerably enhanced as a result of changing political configurationsboth in the international system and in the region itself. This volume provides whatmay be regarded as specifically SriLankan erspectives on these changing configura-tions of politics.One of the majorfeatures of this book is the analysis of the geo-strategic scenarioin South Asia in relationto the new situationwhich has been created by the signingof the Indo-SriLankaAgreement in July 1987CONTRIBUTORS:helton U Kodikara/MahindaWerake/JayadevaUyangoda/BertramE S J Bastiampillai/AmalJayawardane/A Sivarajah/GaminiB Keerawella

204 pages/220 x 140 mm/Rs 165.00 (hb)/Rs 85.00 (pb)/1990

SAGE PUBLICATIONSNDIAPRIVATE IMITEDPostBox4215. New Delhi1.10048Economic and Political Weekly January 13, 1990 91