Contradiction: nations want to separate and have autonomy but we are becoming more and more interconnected.

Supranational Organizations §

• entity composed of 3+ states with administrative structure for mutial benefit and pursuit of goals
• 60 major ones today
  • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
  • NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
  • subsidiaries -> 100

League of Nations -> UN §

League of Nations §

Wilson proposed League of Nations in 1919. 63 states joined, US did not because of isolationists. Failed because too many members left and did not show up when need for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.

Still did spawn useful new organizations and laid framework for dividing the seas

United Nations §

Overview §

• 1947
• 192 Members
• Security Council, General Assembly,
• FAO, UNESCO, WHO

Peacekeeping §

• peacekeeping troops in some of the most contentions regions of the world
• UN High Commissioner on Refugees aids crises
• Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -> groundowkr of human rights groups working today
• violation of UN Charter -> economic sanctions/security council military action
  • South Africa (Apartheid)
  • Iraq (Gulf War)
  • North Korea (nukes)

Regional Supranational Organizations §

Benelux §

Belgum, Netherlands, Luxemburg were first economic co op. They were very similarly culturally and economically.

• Dutch farm products -> Belgian markets
• Belgian industrial goods -> Netherlands and Luxembourg
• WW2
  • common tariffs and no import licenses/quotas
  • Benelux created in 1944

Marshall Plan §

16 countries had joint econ rehab program with US. Prosperity -> European Union

European Union §

Formation §

Marshall Plan -> Organization for European Economic Cooperation -> European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (France, West Germany, Italy, Benelux) -> European Economic Community (EEC)

EEC success -> other states joining (12 total) -> European Community

• Denmark, Ireland, UK in 1973
• Greence in 1981
• Spain and Portugal suiiiii (1986)

12 members -> EU

• 1992
• Austria, Sweden, Finland join -> 15 members
• single currency (euro) in 2002

10 eastern European and Mediterranean islands join in 2005, 2 more in 2007 -> significant

Concerns §

Integration §

• difficult because of diversity
• agricultural practices vary -> general agriculture policy
• sometimes delay changes for some states
• money req -> rich states give money to poor ones

Loss of Traditional State Powers §

• lots of ethnic groups with history of conflict and competition
• divisive forces like econ hardship -> separation
• bigger -> harder for individual states to have any real power

Turkey §

• Western Europeans want Turkey -> Muslims
• Greek beef with Turkey cuz Cyrpus + more
• Discrimination against Kurds??
• lowk racist cuz some people think Turkey isn’t “European” enough

Impact on Modern State Idea §

• never seen before collaboration
  • govenrment
  • capital cities
  • euros
• foreign relations
• domestic policies
• military policies
• sovereignty issues -> EU
• some evidence that people feel connected to EU rather than nation/state

Questions Modern State Idea and Efficiency of States and Nations §

• nuclear weapons give power to small states -> need for peace
• economic globalization -> undermines state independence -> need supranational organization to regulate
• globalization of culture and social relationships -> time-space compression -> no real concept of “state”

Religion in Global Affairs §

• extremists and terrorism threaten the state
• mission -> unity in short term, failure to stabilize -> weaken in long term (centripetal and centrifugal forces in Spatial Organization of State Governments
• potential Islam vs Judeo-Christian world order