11.9.1: Unity and Disunity

 11.9.1: Unity and Disunity 

Despite their problems and differences, twenty-eight countries in Europe managed to cobble together an economic and political unit called the European Union (EU). These countries, which in years past have gone to bitter war with one another, adopted a single currency, the euro, displacing their marks, francs, liras, lats, and pesetas. They also attempted to speak in a single political voice, which often faltered, breaking in midsentence. The patchwork has begun to rip apart, with Great Britain voting to leave the EU and political parties in other member states, especially France and Holland, threatening to do the same. Other regional trading partnerships are probably more fragile than they appear. We will have to see what happens with NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which binds the United States, Canada, and Mexico in a trading partnership, and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which unites ten Asian countries with a combined population of a half-billion people. Two Scenarios Let’s leave this section with two extreme possibilities. The first: Nations overcome their rivalries and tensions and enfold themselves in larger and larger economic-political alignments until just one state or empire envelops the earth. Perhaps. The United Nations (UN) is striving to become the legislative body of the world, wanting its decisions to supersede those of any individual nation. The UN operates a World Court (The International Court of Justice). There is even a World Bank. The second: Rivalries, envies, and old wounds produce increasing disunity that ever renews itself in fresh bloodshed. This possibility, as sad as it is, likely is much more realistic than the first. Incompatible world views and the lust for power in the midst of a flow of weapons from the world’s sellers of death make all steps to unity tentative and fragile.