.png)
The Social and Political Legacies of Postwar Europe: A Critical Analysis of Postwar, Part Two
- Shaye Wirth
- Jun 26
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 21
A Continuation of My Postwar Saga
As I seek to remain committed to my Postwar reading goals, I was able to complete yet another section of the comprehensive but nonetheless tempting novel. Initially, I found myself a bit confused in regard to the main premise of the following chapters—chapter 22—but soon concluded that the premise, regarding themes of the varying relationships amongst decentralization, nationalism, and supranational organization, was explained from a variety of state narratives, such as Mediterranean states, such as Spain and Italy; the British Isles; and additional Western states, such as Belgium, providing me with a new narrative from my briefing on the Eastern European agenda in the time period.
Regardless, the following passages include my main takeaways from my secondary encounter with English historian Tony Judt’s 8th novel, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945.
Lessons from Postwar
Elaborate yet short—that’s how I would describe the first round of Judt’s narratives opening upon this chapter. Whereas the previous chapter covered the struggles of Yugoslavia for over 20 pages, I was met with a new approach—one that consisted of short narratives from a variety of state perspectives to collectively support a greater idea: the emphasis and results of nationalism in Western Europe.
Analysis of Nationalist and Decentralization Movements in Western Europe in the 1990s:
Firstly, the novel regards and refreshes its audience with updates in Spain, where groups such as the Catalans and the Basques’ cultures made them distinct entities in the state post-Francosist rule. Judt compares the two regions in the context of the decade to see how, despite their initial claims to separate, their pursuits may have changed. Particularly, I found the fact that in 1993 Catalonia “was a fifth of the country’s GDP” (Judt 702) and, therefore, had received many benefits from Spanish authorities, such as being granted to have Catalan as a ‘dominant language of instruction’ under the 1983 Law of Linguistic Normalization. Additionally, Catalonia had its own government organizations.
The novel contrasts these characteristics with the Basque community, where in the past, the KLA terrorist group had darkened much of the region’s secessionist desires. Still, Judt composes a new detail, stating that “by 1998 only one person in four could speak Eureska, the Basque language” (Judt 702). Additionally, only “18 percent of Basques expressed support for independence” (Judt 702).
As a final note, Judt clarifies that many of these developments reflected the era of dictatorship in Spain, where Franco instilled Spanish fascist desires in the state. Due to a history of fascism, the novel illustrates a collective Spanish apathy to remain in tradition, and therefore, the populations were more open to the ideologies of nationalist groups.
And just as soon as, Postwar quickly shifts to its next narrative and regional history: Scotland and Italy. I decided to group my commentary for these two regions due to the novel’s chronological order and comparisons to the two regions.
As I was fortunately aware of prior to delving into this novel, I was briefed upon the differences between industrial, disproportionately wealthy northern Italy, in contrast to agricultural, disproportionately poor southern Italy in the 1990s. However, what I wasn’t aware of was the north’s arising political party, the Northern League, attempting to initiate greater autonomy from the south for this reason; although, it appears that in recent decades, the group—now called the Lega (league)—focuses more on anti-immigration and right-wing policies.
The idea of an industrial north seeking for levels of autonomy was further illustrated in another European region—one that varies in many aspects of linguistics and culture—Scotland.
Although Postwar reviews it only briefly, I was not aware of Scotland’s history in the pursuit of self-determination with its advent of the Scottish National Party and pro-devolution voting history. Moreover, I came to learn that many of these initiatives were due to the region’s long history in industrialization and becoming a significant manufacturing power in the United Kingdom in the earlier centuries, and these aspirations led to the development of the Scottish Parliament—whose core value is to achieve independence for the region.
Lastly, my historical research for this sector included Belgium—who, funnily enough, is the country for which I first was a fictional delegate in my first-ever Model UN conference—so I found a bit of nostalgia in gaining a greater, more in-depth grasp of the state’s policy.
Judt centralizes on the developments of two of Belgium’s distinct regions, Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south.
Following the end of WWII, Flanders is described to have significantly increased its economic output with the accompaniment of its cities such as Ghent and Antwerp supporting its growth in technology—as Ghent is known for being the “biotech valley” due to its related academic research and Antwerp’s developments in chemical technology. Hence, Judt explains that the Flemish economy grew at an “unprecedented” rate of 5.3 percent annually (Judt 708). This contrasts with Wallonia—comprising cities such as Liege, Mons, and Namur—where the region’s dominance in manufacturing wealth had entirely declined, and much social assistance had to be provided by the north.
Amidst the descriptions of the state’s economic disparity, I became aware of an additional divisional characteristic: Belgium’s languages. As I had mentioned above, Belgium’s regions of Flanders and Wallonia, in addition to its German-speaking region, Ostbelgium, all had differentiating primary languages, and therefore, the country underwent what I believe to be one of the most intricate, intriguing devolution processes I’ve read about.
The state was divided into three primary regions, which included Wallonia, Flanders, and Brussels-Capital. Each of these regions had their own parliaments. Subsequently, the regions were then grouped by their dominant languages, such as Dutch, German, and French, and these ‘communities’ had their own additional parliaments, which do not perfectly correspond with the primary regions above. Lastly, ten provinces were assigned across Belgium, granted with their own jurisdictions. These processes all occurred between the years of 1993 and 1995.
That process sounds so meticulously impressive and daunting to me, and as an American, I struggle to grasp how this could have been applied to my own country if state borders had to be reassigned.
Final Thoughts of Postwar
For anyone interested in learning in-depth the history about countless amounts of issues, I would highly recommend the novel that I became acquainted with. While covering breadth and depth, there were topics that would certainly intrigue each and every person.
Additionally, while I was a bit nervous to delve into such an academic novel, I felt relatively comfortable with the pacing and formality of language Judt utilized. Thus, I will continue to read the novel’s passages time by time. My only wish was that the book was more clear on the issues covered in each chapter. While the back of the novel illustrates this to a minimum, I felt as if every few pages covered a new idea and made it occasionally overwhelming for someone not used to the style of writing.
However, this issue could very much relate to the fact that I may not have been in the intended audience as well. Nonetheless, I found the novel’s contents to be exceptional.
Bibliography
Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. Penguin Books, 2006.
Salinas, Paula, and Albert Solé-Ollé. "Partial Fiscal Decentralization Reforms
and Educational Outcomes: A Difference-in-differences Analysis for Spain."
Journal of Urban Economics, vol. 107, Sept. 2018, pp. 31-46,
Husson, Jean-François, et al. "Federalism and Decentralisation in Belgium."
The Palgrave Handbook of Decentralisation in Europe, 1 Dec. 2016, pp.