In the post-war period, European governments were no longer able on their own to guarantee their citizens either economic independence or security. European unity increasingly seemed the only reasonable option, and federalist action became possible. From 1950 on, thanks to the courageous initiatives of Jean Monnet and Altiero Spinelli, European governments set out, even if only gradually, on the road to political unity. Today, after many years of struggle, defeats and successes, the European federalists must face the final decisive battle. The experience of the federalist movements, which were, and continue to be, fully autonomous of the national parties, demonstrates that federalism is an ideology which fosters a new kind of political behaviour.
Federalism has a critical relationship toward the traditional ideologies.
Federalism does not set itself up against liberalism, democracy and socialism. However, it does affirm that the great values of freedom, political equality and social justice can not be valid only for the citizens of one nation-state. By accepting such a limitation, the traditional ideologies have implicitly subordinated their ideals to raison d'etat, even to the point of nakedly betraying, as during the First and Second World Wars, the international solidarity which united liberals, democrats and socialists of all countries. Only through federalism can the values of liberalism, democracy and socialism be affirmed in a world without frontiers. The Two Polarities of Federalism Federalism extends between two ideal polarities, cosmopolitanism and communitarianism.