Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

1. Session / Séance. Experiences gained, current Situation, future Prospects / Expériences acquises, Situation actuelle, Perspectives futures - Körmendy, Lajos: International Cooperation in Europe. A Survey / Programmes de Coopération internationale des archives en Europe. Un bilan (english 13 - français 27)

11 May/11 mai 1993

First Working Session/Première Séance de travail

LAJOS KÖRMENDY

International archival Cooperation in Europe. A Survey

1. Introduction

It is extremely difficult to provide a summary of the state of international relations between archives, because very little has been published and what has been is scattered in different journals in a variety of languages. There is no international comittee on this subject which could monitor developments and send it to the national central archives of the countries of Europe. This study is therefore largely based on the information received from these central archives, and to a much lesser extent on publications and personal experience. The value of information gathered by means of questionnaires is indisputably limited. In the present instance, the information was not such as to allow the drawing up of statistical tables; nonthelesse it has enabled me to describe the situation and indicate trends.

2. International Relations - Determining Factors

2. 1. Specifics

Amongst the subjects covered by the questionnaire (attached) was that of the reasons for close cooperation links. Whith three exceptions, the replies gave the following reasons: common history, common language, cultural similarities or shared administrative traditions. There is no doubt that common history (from which the other reasons given stem) was the most important determing factor in international relations during the 1980s in Europe. In their replies to another question, respondents enumerated the countries to which they maintain their closest links.

A geographical analysis of these replies reveals various major historical regions: the Austria-Hungarian monarchy, the Northern (Scandinavian) countries and North America. The former colonial powers such as France, the United Kingdom or the Netherlands enjoy special relationships with their former colonies, but since the letter are non-European countries, they are out of scope of our enquiry. It is, of course, not nostalgia for the past that underpins and sustains these international rela13