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Chapter by chapter ResourcesChapter 2 The End of the Nation State? Federalism, devolution and the European Union
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Several European states - big and small, ancient and modern, though mainly western rather than eastern - are under pressure from minority nationalism, some of which is expressed violently.
Many have responded by granting more autonomy to regions, sometimes to the extent that they seem to be turning themselves from unitary into federal states. It is unclear whether this devolution strategy will prove sufficient to prevent further undermining of the states employing it.
Most European states in any case have compromised (though not ultimately abandoned) their sovereignty, by joining (or even just by trading heavily) with the EU, which has expanded to cover nearly all European states outside of the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union.
The EU is influential because states, in return for the security and material benefits they derive from membership, have gradually granted it legal powers over them, extended the competence of its institutions and integrated their economies into a single market with (for some of them) a single currency.
There exists a perennial tension in the EU's organisation and processes between supranationalism (power and institutions that can encourage or compel member states to recognise a common interest) and intergovernmentalism (the continued capacity of member states to protect and promote national interests in the policy and governance of the EU).
The EU's proposed new constitution - like the treaties that have gone before it - is both a 'tidying up exercise' and a potential opportunity for deeper integration.
The nation state will be around for some time, but not necessarily in its traditional form.
(For general web materials on European Politics see
Tim Bale's Internet Guide)
The official website of the European Union
The web-presence of the Catalan government
The official website of the Basque Country
More info the Northern Ireland conflict at the University of Ulster
The official website of the Government of Cyprus
The web-presence of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
To find out more about the economic club for non-EU countries, see the website for the
European Free Trade Association
Info on minority languages and cultures in Europe is provided by Ethnologue.com
For up to minute and in-depth EU (and European) news, discussion and debate, check out
Euractive
For a range of EU think-tanks, check out the European Policy Centre,
Federal Trust, Centre for European Reform
For a Eurosceptic think tank, try the Bruges Group
For a Europhile counterpart, try the European Movement
1. What are the historical roots of minority nationalism and why do you think it has become more important in recent years?
2. Why have states like Belgium, Spain and the UK become (or made moves toward becoming) federal countries? Do you think these moves are a rational solution - and one that will last - to the problems they face? Or are these problems (and indeed the solutions) actually very different from each other?
3. In your opinion, can there be any justification for Europe's minorities to employ violence in order to make their case and impose their solutions?
4. There are lots of criticisms of the EU. Yet in less than fifty years it has gone from a group of six to a group of twenty-five countries. Presumably, then, it has some attractions for the countries that have joined. What do you think explains its growth?
5. Why are some EU institutions thought of as supranational and some as intergovernmental? Do you think this is a useful or a false distinction?
6. What role have law and decision-making rules played in increasing European integration? Do you think they have eroded or even ended the sovereignty of EU member states?
7. How much does the EU need a new constitution and how much will it change things? Imagine you had a vote on it: would you vote for or against?
8. Are we really witnessing the end of the nation state in Europe?
Autonomy or Independence? Spain's Basque Country
Turkey: Well on the way to Europe?
Welcome to the Club: the EU's new member states in Central and Eastern Europe
Direct democracy or dirty tricks? Policy referendums in Italy and Switzerland
Germany's Grand Coalition, 2005-?
European Party Families and Domestic Politics
The Beach and the Ballot Box: the Catalan autonomy referendum of June 2006
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