Europe

Europe

Over the past 50 years, the EU has developed relations with the rest of the world through a common policy on trade, development assistance and bilateral trade and cooperation agreements. In the 1970s the Europe started providing humanitarian aid and in the 1990s a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) was developed. The role of the European Union as an international actor increasingly seeks to promote and maintain stability around the world. Over time, the EU has become a key actor working closely with third countries and international organisations. Currently, Europe is tackling such challenges such as climate and energy, migration, the fight against terror and addressing the rising food prices. 

Unification vs. the Forces of Nationalism

Nationalism, or devotion to one's national group, was an important force in Europe during the 1800s. Greece, Belgium and Poland all fought for independence early in the century, sparking nationalist movements in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia. One cause of the growth of nationalism was Europe's political boundaries. Most nations did not share a common language or culture. Instead, large empires included people of very different backgrounds. When the Congress of Vienna divided Italy, some parts falling under Austrian rule, nationalism grew. Some Europeans believed that people of the same background should form separate nation-states. Guiseppe Mazzini formed a nationalist group called Young Italy. Mazzini's group attracted tens of thousands of supporters who wanted to fight for the unification of the Italian state(Mansbach 2000).

The co-operation is not only new, it is, on the whole, partial, weak, and often stumbling. To speak of New Europe as a single entity is a broad generalization that not only disregards the power split between the East and West and economic groupings but is also oblivious to many forces that con- tinue to divide Europe. Many of the old centripetal forces remain. It is through these forces that the Com- munist leaders hope eventually to break Western solidarity. Some of the di- visive forces are geography, race, language, history, religion, cultures, psychological phenomena, nationalism, economic forces, minorities, and foreign- policy objectives of the individual states(Huntington 1996).

Nationalism had been a powerful force to integrate strong states with committed citizens in Western Europe. Identification with a nation allows for bigger, stronger communities than families or municipalities. This force also lead to the massacres of rival nations, deportation of millions. Countless European people were denied of carriers and proper education if their mother tongue was different from the dominant ethnic group's in their state. This is what the European Union was meant to prevent. The Renaissance in Europe fostered new political ideas and a reshaping of nation-states emerging out of the feudal period of the Middle Ages. Political revolutions occurred, causing tremendous impact on subsequent revolutions, and result in ousting leaders and new governments. Many European nations experienced heightened periods of nationalism in the 19th century and were either unified by it or divided into ethnic groups. The European nations that experienced unification because of nationalism eventually enter into a period of imperialism where they politically, socially, and economically take ...