Regional Summary  Founded - 30 April 2005 Population - 165 Nations World Ranking - 61 Regional Power - High |
Speaker of the People's Assembly and World Assembly Delegate Pidgeon Island Members of the Committee TBA World Assembly Delegate Angusp (aka Bodegraven) High General of the GRADF Joe Bobs |
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| Bell(a) Europe | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 31 2006, 03:39 PM (118 Views) | |
| U-ropa | Mar 31 2006, 03:39 PM Post #1 |
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Unregistered
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Questioning Political-Correctness. The ensuing ramble is a reaction to an article found here: http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cs47-7.pdf Looking at Europe through the Bell Jar I like to assign myself, the rather self-indulgent and possibly wilfully incorrect label of ‘Europhile’. Depending on the audience, you may not be aware of what such a creature is; I am then predisposed to inform you. A Europhile is one that believes in the European Union, and that the aspirations of a European identity, to replace a national identity, are the superlative form of political interaction. I and others like me, will quote endlessly the work of Jean Monnet, a peculiar little Frenchman, who ‘had a dream’ of a place in which conflict, hunger and instability were a relic of the early twentieth century. That place is Europe, and his dream became the European Union. What Robert Cooper calls the living manifestation of a Kantian ideal, a region of cosmopolitan law and perpetual peace. Why then does it not seem to function? To look at the present European Union is to view stagnation, a lumbering dinosaur waiting to become extinct. The problem, paradoxically, it seems, is the very Europhiles that provides oxygen to its organs, and life to its matter. Europe has been the battle ground of more intra-civilizational conflict then any other place on earth. We have starved during World Wars, and killed each others on nearly every place on the earth. It is then, a sad irony, that when we finally overcome these problems, namely the creation of the European Union, the very people who create this vision of humanity, handicap its future unknowingly. Why? Because we are scared to criticise it. A Europhile will defend the undefendable; I for one can explain to an African immigrant why the Common Agricultural policy is necessary, even though it is protectionist and actively undermines any concept of free-trade. And I do this because Europeans still fear being hungry. We create food mountains, a surplus that we can never digest and then dump on the market, our farmers so subsidised that developing countries can never compete. I do this because, I fear losing Europe, I unintentionally undermine the very aspirations that I laud, and in doing so irrevocably damage the longevity of the idea. What then of the future? We believers must stop accepting the imperfect nature of our self-created system and cease viewing it through the bell jar. I for one must stop projecting such normative values onto a flawed institution that tint my lenses and render me blind. In a world where the impending multi-polarisation of power distributions, we Europeans have found a peace, however, it is not, in its present form, perpetual. Any student with even a tenuous grasp of history will know, that when the world experiences a system containing three or more ‘Great Powers’ (U.S., China, India et al) the undeniable historical precedence is massive conflict. We Europeans may appear from Venus (see Robert Cagan) but that is because he were once from Mars, and to lead the world into the twenty-first century we must adapt and provide the embodiment of democracy and Kantianism to placate any global cataclysm. We can only do that though, when we get our own house in order. |
 
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| Joe Bobs | Mar 31 2006, 05:09 PM Post #2 |
GRADF High General | FRA Arch Chancellor
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 You should post that in Europa. It may bring a tear to their communal eye. And nicely written too. |
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| Joe Bobs | Apr 12 2006, 05:24 PM Post #3 |
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GRADF High General | FRA Arch Chancellor
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I promised to question U-ropa about this ages ago. It slipped my mind I'm afraid. U-ropa, what would you suggest the EU needs to do to reform? The EU is now bigger and more powerful than all its members. However, should we not be making it work for us, rather than having to comply to it? What are the major problems the EU faces in creating a unified Europe? |
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| U-ropa | Apr 16 2006, 11:16 PM Post #4 |
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Unregistered
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oh didnt see this... umm...tough question. i'll see if i can write something up, needless to say: - more verticle intergration - define Europe's political boarders - give the European parliament more teeth - either reduce the democratic deficit, or stop giving the 'people' a say at all - scrap the CAP!!! - force the french and germans to congregate in one place and make them understand the value of a flexible labour market...on pain of death. - tell the turkish they can piss off if they think they're joining our club. - demonstrate to the world that democracy does not have to be spread wearing combat trousers, rather, embrace countries such as Ukraine, Georgia et al... (amongst other things) |
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| VincentDantes | Apr 24 2006, 12:41 AM Post #5 |
Independant by Cynicism
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U-Ropa...you are a genius I admit [in this subject at least]. This is good stuff. As a European and former resident of Europe I also love the idea of the EU. Because Europe has gone through so much s.hit and we've killed each other so much that we're finally coming together rather then against each other. But certainly more has to be done to keep this dream alive and healthy. I dunno about Turkey they've been doing well so far and have also distanced themselves from extremist islamic values and groups. I'm probably wrong about Turkey I'm not informed on it well enough. [So whaddya think...how many centuries will it take for Serbia to join the EU lol...we're such stubborn bastards.] |
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| The Byzantii | Apr 24 2006, 05:40 PM Post #6 |
Irritant
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Turkey still denies the Armenian massacres and imprisons all those who speak about it. |
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| U-ropa | Apr 24 2006, 05:51 PM Post #7 |
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Unregistered
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umm... yeah, and it is based on a paradox. the guardians of Turkish secularism are the military, who have and will step in to stop islamic extremists gain power. however, if Turkey conforms to EU entry standards, specifically placing the military under civilian control, then the potential for a Hammas-esqu government in Europe will be huge. |
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| Arov | May 18 2006, 08:52 PM Post #8 |
Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
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Excellent post U-ropa! Why do you think the EU constitution was turned down in France and the Netherlands? |
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| U-ropa | May 21 2006, 03:27 PM Post #9 |
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Unregistered
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Because they are scared of change. France still retains the residue of trade union power (understatement!) and the Netherlands fears liberalising its markets due to the failure of previous waves of immigration to assimilate into their societies. Both however are reactionary tendencies. What continental Europe needs is a Thatcher to kick some arse and show that markets will cumulatively enhance social prosperity and to reaffirm the belief in modernity to overcome cultural identity. |
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| Arov | May 21 2006, 11:52 PM Post #10 |
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Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
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But don't you think Europeans will try to export their own cultures, and, to an extent, have modernity enhance cultural identity? |
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