The European Union : International Politics And Its Future Opportunity Essay

The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 different countries. It consists of about half a billion citizens, and its combined economy represents about 20 percent of the world’s total economy (Briney, 2015). Today The European Union works as a single market, with free movement of people, goods and services from one country to another. There is a standard system of laws to be followed, and since 1999 many countries share a single currency called the Euro (Europa.eu, 2015). This essay will explore the background history of the European Union and the benefits and drawbacks of the European Union.

The EU was created in the midst of a war in attempts to unite Europe under a common government. After 43 years of rebuilding foreign affairs, have their attempts made a positive impact on the modern Europe? Many argue that the EU takes a toll on country's sovereignty. They lack in allowing countries to be apart of the union, without masking the unique culture and diversity of that country. Despite the advantages of being apart of the EU, the disadvantages highly outweigh them in the areas of economic, independence and cultural identity.

Europe now, for the first time in modern history, is a partnership sharing common values and a commitment to harmony and cooperation. The dream of European integration, shared by the United States, is now being realized, leaving behind us the wasteful era of wars, hostility, and inequalities. We are on the road to a Europe enjoying a unity and

Since 1973 when the British first joined the European Union their membership has been a controversial issue. When conservatives in the United Kingdom won the general election in 2015, their election manifesto promised to hold a referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom should stay or leave the European Union. The referendum also referred to as “Brexit” is scheduled to take place by the end of 2017. The United Kingdom initially joined the union to be part of the common market for the purpose of trade and to develop international relationships. The main argument for those who are pro Brexit is that being part of the European Union is too costly for the United Kingdom, that the EU has grown to large, has interfered to far into

On 25 March 2017, the European Union will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its existence. Nevertheless, the European Council and the presidents of the twenty seven member states are aware that it is not a perfect union.

The European Union calls itself “a unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries” (1) which apparently aims to promote “peace, prosperity and freedom for its 495 million citizens – in a fairer, safer world” (1). While this may be a noble sentiment, in reality the EU is an inefficient, bureaucratic mess. It is my belief that, while the European Union is fundamentally a good idea, it is turning into an undemocratic kleptocracy that will gradually begin to remove our civil liberties while causing great damage to many areas including the environment and society.

The European Union’s role in the international sphere, as well as the aim to improve its external actions, have been considered to be the two most important features of the Lisbon Treaty. Within the Lisbon Treaty, the combination of the provisions on mutual assistance and solidarity created new pressures on member states to assist one another in cases of armed attacks, disasters being it natural or man-made and crisis on EU territory.

The process of EU development is characterized by uncertainty that often plagues joint decisions and creates collective action problems that is overcome by the implementation of uniform norms, or common European values such as “human rights”, “rule of law”, “democratization”, and “common foreign policy”. If there is uncertainty about the relevance of these values in a supranational organization such as the EU, then the notion that a normative framework binds the organization is cannot be supported. The relevance of uncertainty in international relations is discussed by the major political

The European Union (EU) is not a typical international organization. The mix of intergovernmental and supranational institutions makes the EU a unique, distinctive political, and economic system. As Europe has spiraled from one crisis to the next, difficult discussions haves arisen about how much more power should be delegated to Brussels. Even though the EU advocates for “ever closer union”, through increased integration, states are becoming hesitant to relinquish power to the EU. This is due to the fact that state sovereignty has become threatened; it is being compromised by a combination of the lack of effective democratic institutions and the loss of states have lost control of law-making to legislation power to EU institutions. Euroenthuthiasts argue that state sovereignty is enhanced, not threatened, by reallocating power to EU institutions. However, Eurosceptics dispute that too much control has seceded to the EU making is a threat to state sovereignty. My position aligns with Eurosceptics, for the EU has weakened state sovereignty do to increased centralization of power in EU institutions that lack legitimacy. The European Project has obtained a copious amount of jurisdiction from states and eroded a basic fundamental freedom of the modern state- sovereignty. Since the EU has with goals to deepen and widen integration it’s clear that forfeiting state sovereignty will only intensify. My essay will start with a brief history of the European Union and a short

Germany’s place in the European Union is often seen as one of power and Germany gaining many benefits from being part of the interconnected Europe. Even though Germany has some gains from being in the EU, it also has had some restraints placed on its sovereignty and ability to truly rise as a power in the region. The historical toll that the two world wars had on Europe has left a distinct mark on foreign policy, domestic policy, and national identity for many European nations. Germany, in particular, struggles with the implications of its dark past of imperialism and nationalism, and continues to face challenges as it moves forward into its modern era. It must reassure European nations that it is not a threat to the interconnected Europe and constantly prove its commitment to peace. Germany’s historical precedent continue to shape policy decisions regarding the economy, hegemony within the EU, and the refugee crisis.

The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European Union, 2007)

The European Union played a very important role in transforming post-communist countries into democratic states with functioning market economies and the rule of law. The massive transfer of institutional and legal know-how from member

From the early 90s, the problems of ‘governance’ have been mostly discussed within the schools of political science. The enlargement of the EU and the increasing interdependence of the member states triggered the academic interest towards the distinct structures of the European governance. In this light, a number of analysts began to address the question of how should the relations between the member states and the European institutions be examined in the framework of EU governance. Some emerging approaches for considering these relations will be discussed in the sections below.

The less foreign actors are to each other, the higher the chance of peaceful relations between them. This is the idea behind the EU. Liberalism focuses on transnational relationships between people, groups, and organizations. These transnational relationships are creating a new form of human society, in which human society exists alongside, and even challenges the state (Hatto, 2015). In his book World Society, John Burton explores the ‘cobweb model’ of transnationalism. In which the reverberations of a single actors’ action can be felt throughout the international system (Burton, 1972: 450). As a result, states are tied up closely in trade and other issue making conflict costly and its occurrence is greatly

The second edition of Karen E Smith’s book European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World is another installation of the series started in 2003. The second installation is an update and expansion in which she offers a crisp and different outlook on the intricacies of the contemporaneous European Union’s foreign policy. Karen expounds on EU foreign policy by not only examining what the European Union is but also what it does. The book has nine chapters that delve into different aspects of the European Union policy but all focusing on the union’s foreign policy objectives.