The Europian Union

1070 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The benefits and drawbacks associated with development aid

As criticism mounts in the Americas over what many perceive to be an overly narrow approach to integration, there is growing interest among political leaders and citizen groups to learn more from the most advanced regional integration project in the world: the European Union. We list below a summary of what we judge to be the most important lessons in five issue areas from the European experience that may be relevant for the Americas. 1. Development Funds From Europe there is strong evidence that regional economic arrangements can include mechanisms to reduce disparities among member nations. The EU invested 324 billion in development grants to reduce disparities between and within its member states between 1961 and 2001, most of it since the mid-1980s. Accordingly, poorer European countries have made progress in catching up with their neighbors, and there is widespread consensus that EU aid grants were an important factor in that region's trend towards reduced disparity. By contrast, the European funds were roughly ten times the amount of U.S. economic assistance grants to all of Latin America during the same period. And, NAFTA contained no mechanisms whatsoever to reduce inequalities. As Ireland and the other formerly poor European nations have surged forward, Mexico has fallen further behind its NAFTA partners. The general lesson for the Americas is that trade and investment liberalization alone do not guarantee a narrowing of the economic divide. This said, there are many questions that should be explored regarding the most appropriate approach to resource transfer in the Americas. It may be that debt reduction, or a combination of debt reduction and aid would be a more appropriate approach. The EU also offers lessons on how to develop and maintain support for development aid in the richer countries. This has been accomplished by "de-politicizing" aid by assigning responsibility for administration to a supra-national body (the European Commission) and by allowing a portion of aid to be channeled into the poorer regions of the richer countries. 2. Migration EU citizens enjoy the right of freedom of movement from one member state to another. In response to fears of massive flows of migrants into the richer countries, the EU has focused aid and other assistance to lift up living standards in poorer countries to mitigate migration pressures. As a result, when the EU lifted borders with Portugal and Spain, out-migration was negligible. Even though the EU is confronting wider income gaps in the current round of enlargement, countries scheduled to join the EU in May 2004 are slated to enjoy full rights to freedom of movement within seven years.

Show More
Related

  • European Union Dbq

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    Working unitedly is a basic thing to do if you have one to 10 people, but with almost a whole country working as a union is a significant and a spontaneous deal. Which Union am I talking about? The European Union, of course! This Union holds virtually all of the European Countries with 28 countries. Unfortunately, some countries never did join because of losing sovereignty.

    Read More

  • European Union Dbq

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prutha Patel Mr. Lougheed Social Studies 09 February, 2016 Has Europe United? Do you believe that the European Union has united Europe? A supranational cooperation is when countries give up some control of their affairs as they work together to achieve shared goals. The European countries have used supranational cooperation to create the European Union because they want to prevent future wars, and rebuild the weak economy that had formed after the two wars. The European Union has united Europe because it has made Europe have a common currency called the Euro, has a common “government” for the European Union, and has all of the countries influenced when one country that is part of the European Union is in “trouble”.

    Read More

  • Neoliberalissm In Latin America Essay

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    It, however, was a sales pitch to continue Latin America’s subordinate position in the global market. As a result, much of Latin America, from the late 1980 through the early 1990s, transitioned into this form of “democracy”. Consequently, Latin America suffered and still suffers today from underdevelopment, high levels of socioeconomic inequality, and immigration. Globalization of capital, off-shore production, and new technologies have created structural barriers and have led to economic and social inequalities among the Latino communities in the U.S. Politically, the program changes the control of the political system to less direct coercive rule. Economically, it eliminated state intervention in the economy; this allowed the adjusting of local economies to serve the global economy instead of their national economy.

    Read More

  • China And China Case Study

    1450 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the early 1990’s, as Chile transitioned into democracy, a campaign was begun to position Chile as the “Gateway into the Americas.” This campaign focused on “openness” or better stated “open regionalism” in order to promote market growth and advance its markets diversification (China Quarterly). As a result from its new market strategy, Chile shifted its focus from trade with superpowers such as the United States and European Union towards the Asian pacific region (Heine 2005). In 1993, Chile joined the APEC organization, making them the second Latin American country to do so (Alvarez 1998). Being a part of this agreement allowed Chile to further tap into Asian markets and gave Chile the opportunity to be exposed to many more trading partners. It also further projected their trade ...

    Read More

  • immigration

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the introduction of the Schengen Agreement in 1985, travel and restrictions within Europe drastically changed. For the first time in the world, a large group of countries banded together and abolished any restriction on travel, creating a massive zone of free travel. Anyone who was a citizen of a country within the European union now had access to every other country also within the area, creating essentially a borderless landmass. This agreement had some major positive factors, but also some blaring negative effects. The most blaring negative side effect of the free tra...

    Read More

  • Problems with the Maastricht Treaty and its Goal to Unify Europe

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    Problems with the Maastricht Treaty and its Goal to Unify Europe My position is in opposition to the unification of Europe as proposed under the Maastricht Treaty, as beneficial to Europe. We will prove beyond a reasonable doubt about the uselessness of the treaty. The main principle of the Maastricht Treaty is European Unity. Unity is a nice warm hearted word.

    Read More

  • Cultural Globalization Of Hmong In The United States

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    The European Union is an example of successful political globalization as there is stability in the region. The European Union has united several countries, specifically “twenty seven European countries” (Davies 1) and there has been benefits to this system. There has been a “reduction in crime, a rise in population, life expectancy and income as well as an improving government.” (Rich 3). Through this political system there has been improvement in not only in the government but in the people’s wellbeing.

    Read More

  • The Economy of Mexico

    2405 Words  | 5 Pages

    Most Latin America countries are known as third world countries because the economic structure still in development. To overcome such judgment the countries had been developing different policies since the 1970s. The policies promise to help the countries to obtain a healthier economy and have an economic growth. The author Franko explains in the book The Puzzles of Latin America Economic Development how the economist Paul Rosenstein “believes that in order to achieve sustained growth, an economy must develop various industries simultaneously, requiring a coordination of investment or a big push.” (pg. 19) But to accomplished economic growth countries need to reduce the government control over the economy and start developing a market-base economy. Market-base economy would not only guarantee positive results of development, but will also create a more stable economy. Mexico is one of the countries that have integrated new policies and other economic change which have been giving the country positive results mainly on its economy.

    Read More

  • Trade Deficit

    1479 Words  | 3 Pages

    A nation that possesses strong industry, a favorable trade balance, and a lack of dependency upon foreign states is optimum. This ideology is one that has been strongly advocated throughout America’s existence, by politicians from Alexander Hamilton to Pat Buchanan. When a nation faces a trade deficit, it means that competing states are producing more efficiently, and ultimately making profiting. Also, a deficit means that industry and jobs, which could exist domestically, are being “stolen” by foreign nations. According to mercantile policy, this is a zero-sum game; when a competitor is winning, we are losing. The United States faces this situation, having evolved from the world’s largest creditor nation during and following World War II to its current position as the world’s largest debtor. Because America imports much more than it exports, an additional 600 billion dollars is needed every year to balance the equation. This money is “borrowed” through the sale of government assets, sometimes to domestic investors, but increasingly to foreign ones. Many circumstances can be blamed for this situation: cheap foreign labor, foreign government subsidy, and closed foreign markets, among others. The question therefore arises: how to negate obstacle...

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Mexico And Brazil

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ing economic developments. The Chiapas, which has a mostly Amerindian population, consists mainly of peasant farmers surviving by subsistence farming. Fifty-three percent of the people in Mexico live in extreme poverty (222). Brazil has also seen astonishing increases in the number of people living in poverty. There has been a fifty percent increase in the number of people living in poverty (256). Both Mexico and Brazil will have to work towards a more balanced distribution of wealth in the years to come.

    Read More

  • Is Regional Policy Really Needed?

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite being one of the wealthiest areas in the world, the EU faces the growing problem of prolific inequality in wealth and competitiveness across the diverse group of countries. This is dramatically represented in the differences of income between Europe’s richest and poorest regions: inner London and Romania. Inner London’s per capita income is a staggering 290% of the EU’s average versus Romania with a per capita income of a meager 23% of the EU average. The European Union has recognized this problem and has taken action by implementing “Cohesion” policies intended to encourage economic convergence, competiveness and financial unity. To reach these goals the EU has allocated a significant part of the taxes levied on member nations to the “Structural Funds.” These funds are comprised of three financial instruments amounting to a total of around €308 billion: over a third of the EU budget. The Structural Funds are designed to help areas in need, generally with GPD’s of less than 75% of the EU average. They are supposed to direct the money in ways to capitalize on the economic comparative advantages of the different areas in the EU through the financing of projects ranging from: improving education to investing in infrastructure to environmental protection. Supporters of the funds define these projects as an “inherent part of the European idea and European project” (Hubner) and point to areas that have exhibited high growth, like Ireland, as proof of its success. To what extent, however, are these claims true? Looking past the glorified and falsely correlated successes in the EU, a careful observer can see the flaws in this policy and would question how much these funds actually improve the state of the European economy.

    Read More

  • The Enlargement of the European Union

    2128 Words  | 5 Pages

    The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007 has been termed as the largest single expansion of the EU with a total of 12 new member states – bringing the number of members to 27 – and more than 77 million citizens joining the Commission (Murphy 2006, Neueder 2003, Ross 2011). A majority of the new member states in this enlargement are from the eastern part of the continent and were countries that had just emerged from communist economies (EC 2009, Ross 2011), although overall, the enlargement also saw new member states from very different economic, social and political compared to that of the old member states (EC 2009, Ross 2011). This enlargement was also a historical significance in European history, for it saw the reunification of Europe since the Cold War in a world of increasing globalization (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). For that, overall, this enlargement is considered by many to have been a great success for the EU and its citizens but it is not without its problems and challenges (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). This essay will thus examine the impact of the 2004/2007 enlargements from two perspectives: firstly, the impact of the enlargements on the EU as a whole, and thereafter, how the enlargements have affected the new member states that were acceded during the 2004/2007 periods. Included in the essay will be the extent of their integration into the EU and how being a part of the Commission has contributed to their development as nation states. Following that, this essay will then evaluate the overall success of the enlargement process and whether the EU or the new member states have both benefited from the accessions or whether the enlargement has only proven advantageous to one th...

    Read More

  • Characteristics of the Modern Nation-State

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    This essay will describe the characteristics of the modern nation-state, explain how the United States fits the criteria of and functions as a modern nation-state, discuss the European Union as a transnational entity, analyze how nation-states and transnational entities engage on foreign policy to achieve their interests, and the consequences of this interaction for international politics.

    Read More

  • Globalization and Regional Institutions

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relationships between member-states are enhanced, such as by the advent of a common currency, such as 18 states of the European Union that use the Euro (European Commission). Values are spread throughout regional organizations, once again we can look to the European Union, to see how socialized schooling once found in some member countries was dissolved to conform to the desired standard, ...

    Read More

  • International Development in Developing Countries

    2380 Words  | 5 Pages

    “…increasing international trade and financial flows since the Second World War have fostered sustained economic growth over the long term in the world’s high-income states. Some with idle incomes have prospered as well, but low-income economies generally have not made significant gains. The growing world economy has not produced balanced, healthy economic growth in the poorer states. Instead, the cycle of underdevelopment more aptly describes their plight. In the context of weak economies, the negative effects of international trade and foreign investments have been devastating. Issues of trade and currency values preoccupy the economic policies of states with low-income economies even more than those with high incomes because the downturns are far more debilitating.1”

    Read More

More about The Europian Union

Open Document