The notion of a European ‘tribe’ is not on the horizon.

Eurozone Bonds: Learning from Pre-Nuptial Agreements

By Reuven Brenner

French President Francois Hollande recently announced that he would be pushing for mutualizing European debt, a step that Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland oppose.

There are historical precedents for mutualizing debts. Alexander Hamilton’s assumption of states’ debts in 1790, for example, is often mentioned as a model. There are significant differences, however, between that situation and the one the European Union is facing now. While the United States eventually managed to shape an “American tribe”—though 70 years after Hamilton, a civil war was fought that shaped this new tribe’s eventual features—the notion of a European "tribe" is not on the horizon.

The American