neighboring powers in Europe from coming together quickly enough to halt the blitz early on. European economies, militaries, and citizens were left horribly ravished, displaced and war-torn. Only an astonishing 20 years had passed between the end of the First World War and the start of the second; without doubt drastic changes would need to take place in order for devastation of this nature to never happen again. In 1946 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sensibly stated the inevitable need for a “United States of…
The European Union Introduction The European Union (EU) evolved from a regional economic agreement between six neighboring states, to today’s supranational organization of 28 nations across the European continent. These six states often accorded founding nation status include France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Germany, and Italy. The lasting peace that has in the past half a century prevailed in Europe can largely be attributed to the formation of the European Union. As a matter of fact,…
Democratic Deficit The plurality of Eurosceptic people argue that the European Union has a democratic deficient and I believe they are correct. The EU is fairly removed from individual nation-state governments and lack of accountability results in the loss member-state soverignty (Coughlan 2004). A democratic deficit refers the involvement of citizens in decision-making, and it is a foundational part of a legitimate government (Follesdal and Hix 2006). As discussed earlier, EU law is…
to increase productivity and an overall better life for their citizens. While in the beginning the motions for European unity were met with little challenge, as time progressed more and more countries and people began to challenge and doubt the effectiveness of European unity. In 1948, the idea of the European Community was conceived by Jean Monnet while speaking to the National LIberation Committee…
The European Community was established after WWII in 1957, buy the agreements of the Treaty of Rome. The Treaty of Rome focused on economic co-operations with European countries, but also set out a wider political vision of a closer union and eliminates the barriers that divided Europe. During the signing of the treaty, France Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, the Netherlands and Italy became the first members of the Union. It was the result of eleven years of attempt to reconstruct the…
has different meanings and connotations. Talking outside the ambit of social sciences, Europeanization refers to the growth of a European Continental Identity or polity over and above national identities and polities on the continent. Europeanization also refers to the process through which the European Union political and economic dynamics become part of the organizational logic of national politics and policy making. There is also another definition of Europeanization which is more popular in…
The neoliberal world order established in the 1980s under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan and his British counterpart Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been ever expanding, or so people seem to perceive. The world that these visionaries saw was meant to unite all nations into one system, and yet, despite the USSR’s implosion in 1991, there has been an increased sense of nationalism throughout the world; no other entity exemplifies this more so than the European Union. Since the end…
question of whether or not early European expansion and if it was inevitable is a question still debated to this day. It a tough question but not impossible as demonstrated through Alfred Crosby with “Ecological Imperialism”. Alfred W. Crosby speaks on the origins of European domination over the western world. He focuses on Neo-Europeans as well as North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. In the prologue, he speaks to how Europeans dominated their environment and other cultures…
The European Union is an organization wherein its structure and decision-making roots back to the concepts of spuranationalism and intergoventmentalism and the experiences it gained in the past; now it stands as effective cultural and monetary center but fail in foreign and security policy as it faces critiques. In definition supranationalism entails how the European Union is an organization that has power “above the nation”. It stands as an organization that has power independent of the…
CASE NOTE: Inco Europe Ltd & Ors v First Choice Distribution & Ors I. INTRODUCTION This case bears a great importance on II. THE CASE A. FACTS Inco Europe was a dealer in non-ferrous metals traded on the London Metal Exchange. It had previously done business with Steinweg, owner of an approved LME warehouse for metals being traded on the exchange. The two have been in business together for at least three years preceding this collaboration. Inco Europe and Steinweg usually dealt on the terms…