Brian Shaev
University Lecturer
- Name
- Dr. B. Shaev
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6658
- b.shaev@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-2683-4209
Brian Shaev is a Lecturer at the institute for History.
More information about Brian Shaev
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My research offers new perspectives on the ‘economic constitution’ of the early European Communities that later became the European Union. There exists a mythology in much of the public sphere today that ordoliberal ideas were hegemonic in the original European Economic Community but these claims are exaggerated to the point of inaccuracy. By examining transnational networks of socialists in the early European parliament and in national politics, we gain a new awareness of how open visions for a European political economy were in the 1950s-70s and what such visions might offer for a 21st-century single market in today’s EU.
Fields of interest
- European Integration History
- European Union and Contemporary European Politics
- Economic History
- Contemporary French and German History
- History of Labor, Socialism and Social Democracy
- Transnational History
- French Colonial History
- Migration History
Research
From my dissertation (2014) on French-German postwar reconciliation and the origins of European integration to my current research grant (2017-2020) on municipal policies on migrant integration in postwar Europe, I have researched politics from angles that are diverse methodologically, thematically, and geographically. I explore multilevel politics between local, regional, national and international levels, themes as diverse as competition policy, defense policy, migration, social policy, and trade, and national and transnational politics within the European Union with a focus on France, Germany, and The Netherlands.
My dissertation is a comparative and transnational history, titled, ‘Estrangement and Reconciliation: French Socialists, German Social Democrats and the Origins of European Integration, 1948-1957’ (PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2014). As a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for European Research at the University of Gothenburg (2015-2017), I extended my transnational research on social democracy to The Netherlands, and my policy-oriented approach to three fields of central importance to global political economy and European integration: 1) cartel and competition policy, 2) free movement and migration, and 3) welfare and social policy. My postdoctoral project was a study of the transnational Socialist Group of the early European parliament, in which Dutch PvdA deputies held prominent roles, and of the European politics of the national parties that composed it. I am writing a book on this topic for Routledge History, titled Transnational Socialism and European Integration: Political Economy and Ideas of Democracy in the early European Communities. It takes a policy-field approach to European integration history, with chapters on 1) migration/free movement, 2) external trade, association agreements and overseas territories, 3) agriculture, 4) social policy, 5) cartels/competition, 6) European expansion, and 7) democracy and institutions. The book’s timeframe is 1952 to 1973 (the first EEC expansion).
Further I am exploring the original “economic constitution” of European integration through my work on cartel and competition policy, an area over which the European Economic Community held substantial legal power. I am co-editing a book, Social Democracy and the History of European Competition Policy: Politics, Law and Regulation with Dr. Sigfrido Ramírez Pérez. My work analyzes how a transnational ‘Cartel and Merger Group’ coordinated socialist policies in the lead-up to Commission Regulation 17/62, the world’s first non-sectoral international cartel regulation. In contrast to ‘ordoliberal’ interpretations of early European competition law that emphasize the role of Christian democrats and liberals in shaping this legal field, my research demonstrates that it was the socialists who most consistently pushed, first, the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, and then the European Commission, to rigorously enforce the anti-cartel powers granted to them by European treaties. I am further developing my research on competition policy to focus on the 1973 German merger law passed by SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt’s government. In the next years, I intend to pursue a comparative research project of the domestic and European policies of Alain Poher, French Christian democrat, President of the European Parliament (1966-70), and presidential candidate, and ‘Maan’ Sassen, Dutch KVP deputy in the European assemblies where he was president of the Christian Democratic Group, and later second EEC Commissioner for Competition (1967-1971). The ambition is to compare Christian democratic, liberal, and socialist conceptions of competition in the origins of European integration.
In 2017 I obtained a Swedish research scholarship under the title ‘Welcome Home? Municipal Migrant Integration in Postwar Europe.’ I am researching labor market, education, and residential integration policies in the local democratic political cultures of Dortmund and Lille. I and Dr. Sarah Hackett held a successful international conference on this theme in 2018 in Leiden, launching a collaboration among historians, political scientists and sociologists. Moving forward our new network is preparing a special issue on this theme and intends to explore further the intersection of society and politics in the reception of migrants in postwar Europe in future collaborative international conferences.
Teaching activities and supervision
Courses I have taught at Leiden include History of European Integration for second-year BA students, Euroscepticism (MA), Social Europe (BA and MA), and Regionalism in World Politics (MA).
At Leiden I have been supervising BA and MA theses in European Union Studies and in political, economic and social history for the International Relations Masters program, as well as co-evaluating theses in International Studies.
CV
Assistant Professor, Leiden University, since February 2017
Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for European Research/Economic History Unit,
University of Gothenburg, Sweden, September 2015-August 2017
Postdoctoral Scholarship, Max Planck Institute for European Legal History,
Frankfurt a.M., Germany (awarded, declined and replaced by visiting scholar in residence, July-September 2017)
International Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, New Europe College,
Bucharest, Romania, March-July 2015
PhD, Modern European History, University of Pittsburgh, August 2014
Dissertation title: “Estrangement and Reconciliation: French Socialists, German Social Democrats and the Origins of European Integration, 1948-1957”
M.A., History, University of Pittsburgh, April 2009
B.A., New York University, College of Arts and Science, January 2006
Grants and awards
“Welcome Home? Migrant Integration in Postwar European Cities, 1940s-1970s,” Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius Stiftelse. Co-authored grant with Dr. Joacim Waara (Economic History Unit, University of Gothenburg). Award: 2.5 million Swedish kronor total (€243,000) for July 2017-June 2020
Key publications
“Socialism, (Neo)liberalism, and the Treaties of Rome,” Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy 19, 1, April 2019, pp. 31-40. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/38692742/Socialism_neo_liberalism_and_the_Treaties_of_Rome_April_2019_
“Liberalising Regional Trade: Socialists and European Economic Integration,” Contemporary European History 27, 2 (May 2018): 258-279. Open access at: https://www.academia.edu/36405157/Liberalising_Regional_Trade_Socialists_and_European_Economic_Integration_May_2018_
“The Algerian War, European Integration, and the Decolonization of French Socialism,” French Historical Studies 41, 1 (February 2018): 63-94. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/35738903/The_Algerian_War_European_Integration_and_the_Decolonization_of_French_Socialism
“Workers’ Politics, the Communist Challenge, and the Schuman Plan: A Comparative History of the French Socialist and German Social Democratic Parties and the First Treaty for European Integration,” International Review of Social History 61, 2 (August 2016): 251-281. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/27936598/Workers_Politics_the_Communist_Challenge_and_the_Schuman_Plan_A_Comparative_History_of_the_French_Socialist_and_German_Social_Democratic_Parties_and_the_First_Treaty_for_European_Integration
University Lecturer
- Faculty of Humanities
- Institute for History
- History and International Studies
- Shaev B. & Ramírez Pérez S.M. (2024), The development of European competition policy: social democracy and regulation. Routledge Explorations in Economic History. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- Shaev B. (2024), Competition and industrial policy in the European Union. In: Schieder A., Andor L. Maltschnig M. & Skrzypek A. (Eds.), Progressive ambition: how to shape Europe in the next decade. Next Left no. 15. Brussels: Foundation for European progressive studies and the Karl-Renner Institute. 166-183.
- Shaev B. (2024), Introduction. In: Shaev B. & Ramírez Pérez S. (Eds.), The development of European competition policy: social democracy and regulation: Routledge Explorations in Economic History. 1-29.
- Shaev B. (2024), "The Economy is our Destiny": Socialists and the Birth of European Competition Law, 1950-1962. In: Shaev B. & Ramírez Pérez S. (Eds.), The development of European competition policy: social democracy and regulation: Routledge Explorations in Economic History. 96-123.
- Šćepanović V. & Shaev B. (2024), Conclusion. In: Shaev B. & Ramírez Pérez S. (Eds.), The development of European competition policy: social democracy and regulation: Routledge Explorations in Economic History. 299-324.
- Shaev B. (30 June 2023), H-Diplo|RJISSF Article Review 161: Shaev on Costa, “From East-West Balancing to Militant Anti-Communism". H-Diplo: H-Net network on Diplomatic History and International Affairs: NET Humanities and Social Sciences Online. [web article].
- Shaev B. (2023), Review of: Brown B. (2022), The seventh member state: Algeria, France, and the European community: Harvard University Press. French Politics, Culture & Society 41(3): 112-121.
- Shaev B., Hackett S., Brunnström P. & Nilsson Mohammadi R. (2023), Refugees, expellees and immigrants: comparing migrant reception policies and practices in post-war Bristol, Dortmund and Malmö, Urban history 50(3): 509-528.
- Hackett S., Shaev B., Brunnström P. & Mohammadi R.N. (2022), Variants, race relations, and trend-setters : postwar Dortmund, Bristol, and Malmö in national migration histories. In: Cornelissen C., Kümin B. & Rospocher M. (Eds.), Migration and the European city: social and cultural perspectives from early modernity to the present: De Gruyter. 173-194.
- Shaev B. (2022), International Cartels in the Political Origins of German Competition Policy, 1949–1973. In: Shanahan M. & Fellman S. (Eds.), A History of Business Cartels International Politics, National Policies and Anti-Competitive Behaviour: Routledge. 89-102.
- Shaev B. (2022), Political order: from coercion to constitution. In: Duyvesteyn I. & Wal A.M. van der (Eds.), World history of international studies: Leiden University Press. 80-102.
- Shaev B. (2022), Review of: Sparschuh O. (2021) Fremde Heimat, fremde Ferne. Italienische Arbeitsmigration in Turin und München 1950–1975, H-Soz-Kult : .
- Shaev B. (2021), A ‘melting pot’ city: migration and municipality in the reconstruction of Dortmund, Journal of Migration History 7(3): 272-301 .
- Shaev B. & Hackett S. (2021), Cities, migration and the historiography of post-war Europe, Journal of Migration History 7(3): 191-219 .
- Shaev B. (2021), Coal and common market: forecasting crisis in the early European Parliament. In: Lars Bluma L., Farrenkopf M. & Meyer T. (Eds.), Boom – crisis – heritage: King Coal and the energy revolutions after 1945: De Gruyter. 71-80.
- Shaev B. (2020), Rescuing the European welfare state: The Social Affairs Committee of the early European Communities, 1953–1962. In: Baár M. & Trigt P. van (Eds.), Marginalized Groups, Inequalities and the Post-War Welfare State: Whose Welfare?: Routledge. 9-28.
- Shaev B. (2020), Nationalism, transnationalism and European socialism in the 1950s: a comparison of the French and German cases, History of European Ideas 46(1): 41-58.
- Shaev B. (2020), From cradle to grave: The German trade union federation’s wage, welfare and competitiveness programme for the Weimar Republic. In: Coppolaro Lucia & Mechi Lorenzo (Eds.), Free Trade and Social Welfare in Europe: Explorations in the Long 20th Century. London: Routledge.
- Shaev B. (2019), Socialism, (neo)liberalism, and the Treaties of Rome, Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy 27(1): 31-40.
- Shaev B. (2019), Review of: Isser Woloch (2019), The Postwar Moment: Progressive Forces in Britain, France and the United States after World War II. New Haven: Yale University Press. Labour History Review 84(3): 305-307.
- Shaev B. (2018), The Algerian War, European Integration, and the Decolonization of French Socialism, French Historical Studies 41(1): 63-94.
- Shaev B. (2018), I socialisti europei, la libera circolazione dei lavoratori e i flussi migratori dall'estero nelle prime comunità europee. In: Laschi G., Deplano V. & Pes A. (Eds.), Europa in movimento. Mobilità e migrazioni tra integrazione europea e decolonizzazione, 1945-1992. Bologna: Il Mulino. 101-135.
- Shaev B. (2018), Liberalising Regional Trade: Socialists and European Economic Integration, Contemporary European History 27(2): 258-279.
- Shaev B. (2018), Inheriting Horror: Historical Memory in French Socialists' and German Social Democrats' Fight for European Democracy, 1945–1958. In: Späth J. (Ed.), Does Generation Matter? Progressive Democratic Cultures in Western Europe, 1945–1960. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 171-195.
- Shaev B. (2016), Flowers but no Bouquet: The Common Assembly’s Relations with the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community under Presidents Jean Monnet and René Mayer, 1952-1956. In: Vainovski-Mihai I. (Ed.), New Europe College Yearbook 2014-2015 347-369.
- Shaev B. (2016), Opposition et Réconciliation: Les socialistes français, les sociaux-démocrates allemands et les origines de l’intégration européenne, L’OURS 74-75: 79-88.
- Shaev B. (2016), Workers’ Politics, the Communist Challenge, and the Schuman Plan: A Comparative History of the French Socialist and German Social Democratic Parties and the First Treaty for European Integration, International Review of Social History 61(2): 251-281.
- Shaev B. (24 September 2014), Estrangement and Reconciliation: French Socialists, German Social Democrats and the Origins of European Integration, 1948-1957 (Dissertatie. History, Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. Supervisor(s): Chase William.
- Shaev B. (2012), The French Socialist and German Social Democratic Parties and the Future of the Working Class in the European Coal & Steel Community, 1948-1954, Diacronie : Studi di Storia Contemporanea 9(1): 1-19.
- Shaev B. (2011), Anticipating the Social-Democratic Schism: Theoretical Disputes within the SPD on Capitalist Evolution and the Nature of the Imperial German State, 1891-1914, Focus on German Studies 18: 19-52.