The European Union: Will Europe Survive The 21st Century? An Article by Walter A. McDougall

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 on the Brink of Change at the Turn of the 20th Century By the turn of the 20th century Europe had undergone massive changes which had eventually pushed it into war. The main forces behind these changes were 1. Nationalism 2. Militarism 3.

In truth, its history dates back as far as the sixteenth century, following the first great expansion of European capitalism, which resulted in slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism (Ezema, 2009). Throughout history, world powers have continually sought to perpetuate their way of life: from the philosophy and mythology of the Greeks, the political ideologies and linguistics of the Romans, and the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance (Daghrir, 2013). Thus, it comes as no surprise that the aftermath of the post-war era, which saw the collapse of Soviet communism and the emergence of the United States as the sole hegemon, saw the aggressive spread of American ideals, values, and beliefs. Indeed, just as American goods flooded world markets in the post-World War II era; American culture now penetrates every continent through the aggressive development of mass communications, trade expansion and information technology.

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

Part of the exceptional nature of the EU stems from the notion that nothing like it has ever been attempted successfully before. The European Union is an international institution with a single market and shared currency. It strives to maintain singular goals and make its way towards being an “ever closer union”. Today, the European Union has expanded to include twenty-eight member countries with an influence that reaches every continent. This institution has had an impressive history, but it has reached a point of concern. The golden years which held high hopes of a united supranational Union are long over. The EU faces destructive problems today, which could ultimately end their impressive era of cooperation. The Union has come

Over the past several years, the European Union’s response to crises illustrates its resiliency, with the Union itself serving as the main support system for countries in need. Unfortunately the once prosperous European Union currently experiences a gradual decline in effectiveness. Political Scientists Sebastian Rosato and Douglas Webber highlight the issues plaguing the European Union, with Rosato focusing on post-Cold War Europe and Webber focusing on the rise of nationalists and the Union’s reliance on Germany. While each scholar takes a different approach in explaining the downfall of the Union, they each conclude that the European Union is not on a positive path. Both arguments provide valuable insight, however, Webber’s argument appears

If considering the European last decades, it is undeniable that, although it still represents one of the largest economies in the world, its role of trustworthy political integrated community has been deeply undermined because of its inability to face external shocks mostly due to its incapacity to deal with itself. It is therefore envisaged for the European Union the mandatory duty to rediscover itself and to make the world aware of its potential.

A rift has emerged in this alliance in the aftermath of the attacks of September11, 2002 that analysts characterize as “unprecedented in its scope, intensity, and, at times, pettiness.” (Asmus) Immediately after the attacks, Europe coalesced in support for the United States as sympathy for Americans dominated public opinion. The goodwill evaporated quickly, however, when it became clear that the United States planned to use the altered geopolitical landscape as one of the justifications for a preemptive war to displace Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial

"Europe must prevent Greece from becoming an out-and-out catastrophe and make sure that the same fiscal 'remedy' is not applied to other weak economies" -- Franziska Brantner

Europe had dominated the global trade, banking and finance, its empires had stretched across the word and its military powers had been unquestioned. From this high Europe was brought down to lows of the devastation of the Second World War; a war that left 40 million people dead. It destroyed countries, cities were left in ruin and agricultural production halved, leaving many people to rationing their food. This all meant terrible news for Europe’s global influence and power leading to the emergence of two huge superpowers the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. This is what gave birth to the European Union, an idea conceived by Jean Monnet.

Europe was constantly in civil conflict with each other prior to the aftermath of World War II. However, at the end of World War II, it became evident that the United States would dominate global politics. In fact, much of the foreign policy implemented throughout the world were simply just the goals of the United States and the United States did become the major geopolitical hegemon directing international policies which other countries would follow. In simpler terms, the United States frequently exercised power throughout the 20th century. However, with the emergence of the European Union and it’s recent economic rise rivaling that of the United States, some scholars begin to question whether the United States will be able to maintain its role in the international arena and what the role of the European Union will be. Thus, the question must be asked, Will the European Union run the 21st century? Viewing this through an economic lens, the European Union will “run” the 21st century because of other regions adopting its economic model, the sheer size of the EU economy, and its overall economic influence and power.

People have created unions many times but not all of them were successful, specifically when we consider alliances among number of countries with different economics, political systems and culture. For instance, last century brought both the biggest collapse and the most promising union in the modern history. Although U.S.S.R has disappeared from geographical maps, some of its members joined another alliance. The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership that united 28 countries on the European part of Eurasia and represents a unique form of cooperation among members today.

Located on the tip of the Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe, Greece has been formally recognized as a member of the European Union since 1981 (1). Climactically Greece experiences mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers consistent with a Mediterranean climate (2). Between 1950 and 1980 Greece experienced a period of climactic cooling that reduced its average annual temperatures; however, by the late 90’s that cooling trend reversed and Greece began experiencing progressive temperature increases (3). This trend is consistent with IPCC predictions that temperatures in Europe are expected to increase at a rate of 0.1 and 0.4 degrees Celsius per decade, with the greatest warming impacts concentrated in Southern Europe (4). Higher

In the European Union there are currently 28 member states, the EU started in 1958, which was after the aftermath of the Second World War. The UK joined in 1973. Each EU country is different which means that something like population growth can be very different; also each country would have its own approach to some of the most important policies, like education. The EU did not always have as many member states as it does now. When European countries just started to cooperate in 1951, there were 6 countries that participated in cooperating with each other. On the 1st of July 2013, the EU reached its current size when Croatia joined.

Agriculture is one of the vital sectors in terms of economic development and a number of countries tend to rely on their agriculture business for national economies; thereby, it is also one of the most sensitive sectors in the world. Under this circumstance, the European Union (EU) is the biggest food supplier. Since the establishment of European trade bloc in the 1950s, the EU has been playing a significant role in international trade. Particularly, this on-going widened and deepened union has contributed to both internal and external development through trade liberalisation in international arena. Nevertheless, it has not fully opened the markets and severely protected the agricultural sector with the common agricultural