Introduction
Europe is not really a continent that should be defined as a large landmass divided from the rest of the continents by water. This has led to many geographers identifying a Eurasian Continent. But since modern geographers came up with modern Europe, the European geographers came up with their own definition of the European continent (Barnard, 111).
The Eastern Boundary has been controversial since the formation of the European continent. Most geographers have portrayed the European continent to extend up to the Ural Mountains in Russia. This was a result of the Ural Mountains being the first natural barrier to the East. There has been a talk of European Russia, a part of Russia that is highly modernized and heavily populated which lies west of the Ural Mountains of Russia. This has also led to terms like ‘Central Europe’ for countries lying between European Russia and Western Europe (Meunier, 114).
Concerning the European Realm, geographers have put the eastern boundary to the Russian border. Greenland, the largest island in the world is also included. This is because of its historical ties to Europe particularly Denmark. The geographers have connected the Eastern European countries to the Russian Realm. This is because they are communists and had historical, political, and economic ties with the Soviet Union during the cold war era. However, geography authors chose to put Eastern Europe back to Europe predicting that the country’s political and economic interactions will tend to be towards the European rather than towards the Russian (Sullivan, 1160).
Boundaries of Europe
In physical geography, Europe is well defined by the waters in the north, south, and west. It is important to note that the eastern boundary has no physical barrier. This lack of physical barrier in the eastern bounder has played an important historical role. Napoleon of France and Hitler of Germany easily traveled armies across the plain to attack Russia. This explains the Russian desire to have buffer states under its control lying between Europe and Russian (Barnard, 124).
There is also the cultural boundary bordering Europe. This is defined by language, religion, and ethnicity. Looking at the maps of language and it is easy to understand why some geographers put Russia and Europe into one realm (Guéguen, 400).
In the Economic boundaries, many of the Eastern European countries are adjusting their economies to the global economy and leaning towards the European economy. The economic boundaries give many reasons why there should exist a European realm and a different Russian realm. However, some of the maps still indicate that Eastern European countries should be included in the Russian realm (Meunier, 115).
The historical, the main issue concerning the European realm is the Eastern boundary. The countries of Eastern Europe were a member of the cold war era Warsaw Pact. They are countries that signed the Warsaw pact in Warsaw in Poland that signed a treaty of friendship and mutual alliance in 1956. Russia also signed the Warsaw pact (Steiner, 132).
Supranationalism, Devolution, and the European Union
Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in political communities, wherein power is democratically entrusted to independent, experienced, appointed personalities or to representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states. Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a nation or country to government at the sub-national level, such as a regional, local, or state level (Guéguen, 436).
The European Union is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states of Europe. It was established in 1993 after the Treaty of Maastricht upon the foundations of the already existing European Economic Community. The European Union seeks to unify member states socially, economically, and politically. The European Union has taken the method of Supranationalism whereby power is democratically entrusted to independent, experienced, and or appointed personalities or to representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member’s states.
The European Union brings under its umbrella 27 countries primarily from Europe and it has unified the countries’ social, economic, and political aspects. It is still under the prospects of including other countries in the additional twenty-seven. These countries are Croatia, Turkey, Albania, and Serbia among others like Kosovo. Most of the countries in the European Union are from West Europe (Meunier, 100).
Europe however has also taken up the method of devolution. A case study of Europe’s exercise of devolution is the United Kingdom. This is where certain legislative and executive duties have been the British parliament to representative bodies in Scot Land, Wales, and Northern Ireland. These three countries together with England form the United Kingdom. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have also adopted the devolution of power (Sajdik, 65).
The European Union has its currency called the Euro. It is managed and administered by the European Union Central Bank located in Frankfurt, Germany.
However, some countries in Europe are reluctant to join the European Union. There has been a wide range of Euroscepticism among some of the European countries. Euroscepticism is a term used to infer to people who are against further European integration (Steiner, 127).
Some former Soviet countries have hinted at their desire to be incorporated in the European Union. However, not all of them are interested in joining the Union. Countries like Czechoslovakia do not want to join while countries like Yugoslavia have expressed their desire to join the European Union. However, the European Union introduces a lot of technicalities to countries that the union is not interested in them joining the Union (Guéguen, 362).
Globalization and European Union
The European Union is a major player in global economics and will play a major role in politics in the era of globalization. Globalization will be expected to create a lot of conflicts in the European Union as well as other parts of the world because some government actions will adversely affect neighbors. However, the European Union will be an agent of globalization in the European Continent. Globalization brings about economic uncertainties and income inequality. It is normal for those who have a higher share of the economic liberalization will want to keep it that way while those who have adversely been affected by the economic integration will want the situation to change. However, this will bring conflicts within the European Union because some countries will differ from other over the issue of market liberalization.
Works Cited
Barnard, Catherine. The Substantive Law of the EU: The Four Freedoms, Ed., New York: Oxford University Press. 2007 110 – 130.
Guéguen Daniel, Marissen Vicky. The comitology reform: 70 legal texts adopted in co-decision annually, over 2500 regulations in comitology: comitology, the true EU power. Brussels: Euro politics; European Training Institute, 2007 350 – 400.
Meunier Sophie, McNamara Kathleen; The state of the European Union. V. 8, Making history: European integration and institutional change at fifty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 98 – 120.
Sajdik Martin, Schwarzinger Michael. European Union enlargement: background, developments, and facts. London: Transaction Publishers, 2008. 54 – 78.
Steiner, Josephine; Lorna Woods; Christian Twigg-Flesner. EU Law, Ed, New York: Oxford University Press. 2006. 125 – 135.
Sullivan Jonathan, SELCK Torsten. ”Political preferences, revealed positions and strategic votes: explaining decision-making in the EU Council”, in Journal of European Public Policy, 2007. 1150-1161.