...The emergence and deepening of the European identity has been a significant aspect of integration over the past two decades. The European identity can be classified as a set of values shared by all the citizens of the European Union. The most tangible illustration of a European identity is the European Union (EU), a political-economic union that consists of 28 member states within Europe. Individuals and nations within Europe subordinating parochial interests is an imperative influence for the assimilation of Europe, as it achieves a common sense personified by the identity, based on the beliefs, values and norms. The concept of European identity can be demonstrated through cultural, social and political factors in varying degrees, with reference to the French society. Cultural and social identities involve the existence of a European identity that exceeds the distinctiveness of individuals based on native factors such as national identity or culture group identity, whereas political identities considers the strengthening expansion of a European identity through the influence of European identity. Supporters of European integration regard the development of a European identity as part of the quest to a culturally, politically, economically and influential united Europe. A European identity can notionally exist simultaneously through national or cultural identities, with individuals establishing a hierarchy of importance or relevance for their identities to their lives. Cultural...
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...of an author of the book reviewed here, reflecting on the concept of ‘the state’ and the problem of sovereignty: in political as in constitutional legal theory, we still need to cut off the King’s head,1 as we are still entrenched in the philosophical and constitutional language of the 19th century.2 But recently, with European integration and globalisation, change has also occurred in the traditional concepts of public law such as “state” or “constitution”. The book edited by Bamforth and Leyland is about this change over the last thirty years or so.3 “Public Law in a Multi-Layered Constitution” is a significant contribution to a better understanding of how public law is transformed, in Great Britain and elsewhere. The title of the book as well as its introduction (pp. 1-26) state that its central theme is the transformation of the British constitution into a “multi-layered constitution.” This is meant to refer to a constitution that “contains multiple, but inter-connected and sometimes overlapping European and national layers”,4 where “power (both legislative and political) has been spread away from the Westminister Parliament, both ‘upwards’ to the European Union and ‘downwards’ to the devolved assemblies.”5 The editors’ claim is that this restructuring of the constitutional architecture of the United Kingdom is occurring while there is also a rebalancing of the roles of the courts and parliament in holding the executive accountable, an alteration of government by the process...
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...European Union: Is the Media Friend or Foe? Over the past several decades, the French, Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Austrians, Swiss, and so on have been tempted to surrender their identity to the newly formed culture, “European.” Formed in 1993, The European Union consists of 27 European countries that have agreed to abide by the same foreign and security policies, such as accepting a new currency, the Euro. The European Union mainly formed due to the extreme forces of nationalism, which had previously devastated the entire continent in World War II. In order for the union to perform successfully, a sense of unity among all countries has to be present. To create this new culture, experts thought the television was the best medium to unite people from different countries. In my opinion, the media is the result of a culture, and therefore it is difficult to create a new culture through television. This issue of the International Communication Gazette explains how television has helped the European culture evolve. The authors discuss the two different approaches to culture: primordialist and constructivist. Primordialism holds that national identity is unchangeable and depends largely on biological heritage and history. Constructivism, on the other hand, rejects ethnic homogeneity as a factor and states that culture is based on the recent interaction of knowledge and ideas. Overtime, nationalism increased in Europe, which caused conflict and later, destruction. Therefore...
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...16.3.2010 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 64 A/1 V (Announcements) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES EUROPEAN PERSONNEL SELECTION OFFICE (EPSO) NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION EPSO/AD/177/10 — ADMINISTRATORS (AD 5) (2010/C 64 A/01) Are you interested in working for the European institutions? Does your profile meet our criteria? Why not apply? Give yourself a chance to succeed. The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising admission tests and an open competition, based on tests, to constitute a reserve from which to recruit administrators (*). EPSO/AD/177/10 — ADMINISTRATORS (AD 5) in the following fields: 1. EUROPEAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 2. LAW 3. ECONOMICS 4. AUDIT 5. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) The purpose of this competition is to draw up reserve lists from which to fill vacant posts in the institutions of the European Union. Before applying you should read carefully the instructions in the guide published in Official Journal C 57 A of 9 March 2010 and on the EPSO website. This guide, which forms an integral part of the notice of competition, will help you to understand the rules governing the procedure and how to make an application. (*) Any reference in this notice to a person of the male sex must be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of the female sex. C 64 A/2 EN Official Journal of the European Union CONTENTS 16.3.2010 I. II. GENERAL BACKGROUND DUTIES III. ELIGIBILITY...
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...How useful are theories of integration to understanding the development of the European Union? BY IRABOR PETER ODION 07037830536 p24real2000@yahoo.com. “There is no historical precedent for the creation of a multinational, multicultural, and multilingual federation of states with mature social, economic, political and legal systems. In this regard the EU is a colossal and original enterprise.” From the beginnings of its development, there have many causes for the development of what is now the European Union (EU). This essay examines theories of integration and evaluates their validity in explaining the development of the EU. Then, by scrutinising these theories, this essay will seek to establish which, if any provide a comprehensive explanation for the development of the EU. Theories of integration offer explanations of how and why supranational governance has developed. Whilst there are undoubtedly many different causes and factors which have contributed to the development of the EU, this essay primarily focuses on neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism as well as some new theories of integration which seek to explain the development. Although federalist and functionalist...
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...the world if we are secure in our British identity, and confident about its future. That security and confidence is important for the inner strength it gives us in our conduct of business with others. I want to argue the case why we can be confident about the strength and the future of British identity. Sadly, it has become fashionable for some to argue that British identity is under siege, perhaps even in a state of terminal decline. The threat is said to come in three forms. First, the arrival of immigrants who, allegedly, do not share our cultural values and who fail to support the England cricket team. Few dare to state this case explicitly, but it is the unmistakable subliminal message. Second, our continued membership of the European Union, which is said to be absorbing member states into ‘a country called Europe’. Third, the devolution of power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is seen as a step to the break-up of the UK. This evening, I want to set out the reasons for being optimistic about the future of Britain and Britishness. Indeed, I want to go further and argue that in each of the areas where the pessimists identify a threat, we should instead see developments that will strengthen and renew British identity....
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...Assignment Week Eight 1 ASSIGNMENT WEEK EIGHT Assignment Week Eight Gary Best American Military University Assignment Week Eight 2 ASSIGNMENT WEEK 8 Chapter 14 First off the large American multinational corporation would need to rely on a teams of lawyers and interpreters to get to know the laws of the European Union against cybercrimes. Security firm FireEye released the results from a study they conducted and found that one third of the businesses in the UK, France, and Germany are at a loss with the new cyber security legislation.(1) If one third of the businesses that are in the European Union do not understand the upcoming laws your research team is going to be very busy. The establishment of the data protection regulation has created to things to point out that may make trying to follow it a little easier. First it wil1 be designated as a regulation. A regulation is applicable in all European Union states.(2) Secondly, there is now harmonization, only one regulatory authority that manages its state of things in all of the European Union states.(2) Before this change each European Union state had its own directive that you would have to worry about compliance. One thing to consider is if you plan on using a cloud based software for your data. It will need to be secured and protected against hacking. You will need secure the data before it is sent to the cloud using a process called cloud data encryption and tokenization.(3) Tokenization is taking the sensitive...
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...A politically and economically united Europe is desirable The prospect of a united Europe has been in the minds of people since ancient times. The Romans, during their heyday, desired to conquer the entire European continent, and nearly succeeded. Between then and now, there have been other attempts to unify the European continent under one ruler - people such as Charlemagne, Napoleon and Hitler. It is only now that the unification of Europe seems to be possible, but in such a way as has never been thought of in the history of civilized man. No longer is the move towards a single ruler or a conquest of land. Today's unification is one of political and economic borders, in which the "conquered" nations gain a seat in an international High Authority and all people involved prosper. At least, this is the goal of the growing organization in Europe. In the course of history many famous people have spoken or dreamt of a United Europe, ranging from George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Giuseppe Mazzini to Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. But probably the clearest, most concrete vision was articulated by the French writer Victor Hugo. This vision can only be understood against the background of the historic upheavals in nineteenth-century Europe that Victor Hugo experienced at first hand: several wars between France and Germany, Victor Hugo’s enforced exile in the Channel Islands because of his opposition to Napoleon III, the traumatic annexation of Alsace-Lorraine...
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...The cultural challenges that Europe is facing now Subject: Cultural challenges coming from European integration and globalization processes current in European Union. Introduction In the post war period Europe started to go through many processes of integration. With the time passage this processes started to have a bigger geographical range as well as they started to be present in more dimensions of social, economic and political life. On the top of that strong globalization processes are taking place all over the world, which also has its strong reflection in shape of Europe. Economy, culture and educational become one of the main issues for Europe in globalization and integration processes. The creation and expansion of European Union a form which never was present in any other place in the history is a significant and irreversible creation. European Integration – does it really concern also the way in which we perceive or will perceive our culture? Some scholars started to use term of Europeanization as the less inclusive and less biased than European Integration itself. Will next generations and new European perceive themselves as European? We can multiply such a questions. This short essay will attempt to answer the main question stated in the title in prism of cross-cultural aspects. What is national culture? In a scientific sense it means a certain class of objects, phenomena and processes, or definite ways of behavior. However, in the philosophical sense the...
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...regional basis. * Geocentric predispositions: a philosophy of management whereby the company tries to integrate a global systems approach to decision making. 2. If a locally based manufacturing firm with sales of $350 million decided to enter the EU market by setting up operations in France, which orientation would be the most effective: ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric, or geocentric? Why? Explain your choice. Responding to the cultural needs of local operations and customers, MNCs find that regional strategies can be used effectively in capturing and maintaining worldwide market niches. In this case, as the operations are set up in France, to enter the EU market the firm should manage a strategy that forms a regional integration and national responsiveness, so it would be most effective if the firm use the regiocentric orientation where the firm’s own interests are blended with the culture of France and most countries in EU and the firm uses the flexible manufacturing...
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...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- European Integration: ------------------------------------------------- An Illegitimate child? http://www.economist.com/node/21555927 BAS 2013 Nicole Ogorzałek Words: 955 ------------------------------------------------- European Integration: an illegitimate child? The European Union is facing hard times ahead. With each new treaty or another political agreement, the discontent with the European Union seems to be growing. While the Eurobarometer shows that the citizens still believe it to be beneficial to be part of the EU, the dissatisfaction is rather directed at EU policy (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2013). Whether it’s the question of enlargements, social policy or country bail-outs, the Europeans seem to be disagreeing more and more with the top of the European politics. However, nowhere is the Eurosceptism as marked as it is in Britain. And it doesn’t seem to lessen. On the contrary, organising protest against new EU-initiatives has never been easier (The Economist, 2012). Of course, looking back at Britain history it’s not hard to understand why words like “United States of Europe” or “the European Superstate” fire up the public indignation (Donnelly, 2012). Those trying to appease the opponents try to point out the benefits Britain’s EU membership brings, like political and economic stability and developments. Furthermore, the...
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...MacKenzie Conran Professor Robert Rohrschneider EURS 669 15 March 2012 European Party Members Real Agenda With 27 member states, 23 official languages and 735 Members of European Parliament (MEPs), it is difficult to comprehend cohesion within the European Union, but that is exactly what Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit discuss in their article “Policy Positioning in the European Parliament” (2012). The scope of political groups in addition to political parties within the European Parliament is constantly changing. With each new election national parties switch affiliation and new national parties are formed. These national parties range on the entire left-right spectrum and each party is distinguishable from one another (McElroy and Beniot). What distinguishes these national parties and how they are formed is somewhat of a trick question, so having experts to look to for input is necessary. Expert survey methodologies were used by the authors to conduct research, giving it more credibility due to the general publics’ lack of knowledge of EP party groups let alone party placement. In European election surveys, party placement questions are not even asked. Also, the response rate of experts for the prior article’s survey was 45 percent, and increase of seven percent from 2007 (McElroy and Benoit). With national parties evolving, changing and disappearing altogether, choosing a party new group is not uncommon for national parties. The way party groups are chosen...
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...Lydie Nguz Maruv International Business Strategy-Shurgard case-question 3 Question 3-What do I think are the main challenges that Shurgard will face for its European expansion (Other than “growth”), What would be my specific recommendations as regards each of these challenges? Why? In my opinion, the main challenges that Shurgard will face for its European expansion are the following: 1. The unfamiliarity of the self- storage concept in Europe and hence lack of professional expertise; 2. Differences between European countries, it’s not one size fits all; 3. Inexistence of specific regulation concerning self-storage business; 4. European labor regulation, which implies that it is harder to hire or fire people and relocate them(France); 5. Difference between European consumers and US consumers as regard price elasticity; 6. Difficulty to fund expansion as potential investors might be very demanding; 7. Marketing critical to a quick rent up in order to create basic awareness and demand; Concerning the first challenge, the fact that self-storage didn’t exist in Europe, means it is both a risk and an advantage to be the first mover. So, Shurgard has to make sure in its expansion process, that there is a real market opportunity in countries where it wants to operate. It involves that there are potential customers who are looking for this kind of services. I my opinion, if a business doesn’t exist somewhere it don’t mean per...
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...essay I am going to focus on the current state of the EU and its process of integration which is something what reaches to a far history. Because already after the Second World War the thought on the European integration emerged. In 1946, Winston Churchill had his speech about uniting Europe, and even now it is still a current issue. Every day we hear about globalization and integration of states which should ensure economic prosperity and political stability for participating states by mutual cooperation and also many communities regarding this have been established. First of all, I am going to briefly outline Churchill’s speech and Declaration by Schuman. Then I am going to try to reflect the main concepts of those two speeches in today’s situation. I am going to discuss what result were brought by the process of integration. And finally, I am going to take a look at the most important community in Europe, the European Union and its goals which still have to be done. Protagonists Churchill and Schuman “Winston Churchill (…) was one of the first to call for the creation of a ‘United States of Europe’. “ He believed that peace could be guaranteed only by a united Europe and that united Europe would bring happiness, prosperity and glory. According to him, the first step must have been to create a Council of Europe (europa.eu). Schuman’s speech took place in 1950 and its purpose was to create a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) which would “help raise standards of living...
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...In order to research the relationship between right-wing populism and Christianity in Europe I am proposing a quantitative research analysis through a general questionnaire survey of the European Union’s electorate. This survey will ask European voters two questions, (1) what values are most important to you? (2) What is your preferred political party, or party voted for in the most recent national or European Union elections? The first question will provide respondents with a list of values, from which they will rank the top three they find most important. The value list will contain such items as friendship and family, independence, social justice, national identity, honoring traditions, culture, faith in god, sanctity marriage, forgiveness,...
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