Democratic Catastrophes and European Unification in Ortega y Gasset’s Postwar Political Thought

For a major liberal theorist of totalitarianism’s rise and early advocate for European unification, it is surprising how little Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset’s views on the Second World War have factored into studies of his political thought. In this article, I show that Ortega described the conflict as a “catastrophe” that motivated European unification. Rather than an ex post facto interpretation, this was for him the fulfillment of a prophecy. As early as 1930, Ortega had predicted an impending catastrophe that would represent both a consequence of and a corrective for interwar democracy. European unification, then, was only possible to pursue after such an event. Noting that Ortega’s casting of European unification as a response to the Second World War reflects common contemporary assumptions, I also argue that he exhibits how this logic can be enlisted in the service of constraining democracy

Democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Unification · Computer Science · History · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Spanish Philosophy and Literature

• Echoes of Imperialism

  Open Access•Michael Wilkinson, Michael Anthony Wilkinson•Hague Journal on the Rule of Law•2026

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