The Complexity of Memory in Global Relations and European Integration: A Theoretical Perspective

Learning from and coming to terms with Europe’s belligerent past have been important drivers of regional integration since the Second World War. Unlike other disciplines, International Relations (IR) has long ignored memory as a relevant factor in global relations, regional integration, or foreign policy. I argue that this is mainly due to the dominant science philosophical premises of positivism in IR theory (IRT) and has only slowly begun to change. This article shows how the constructivist, historical and relational turns in IRT have brought IR closer to memory studies. It aims to further promote this trend by proposing another meta-theoretical perspective for IR, European studies, and the concept of memory: complexity thinking. In its ‘general’ form, advocated by Edgar Morin, it provides a transdisciplinary background for the analysis of memory in our VUCA world. Consequently, complexity also changes our perspective on European integration, not least with regard to the processes of remembering in its context.