POLITICS RESEARCH The importance of politics Virtually everyone is a subject of a nation state, which also means their 1) livelihood

is dependent on a complex system of international trade, political/economic agencies Safety/security is at the mercy of powerful chemical/thermonuclear/biological weapons that could potentially bring unimaginable destruction to the world (in other words, politics regulates progress made in the natural sciences)

In modern society, a constitutional representative democracy and its precarious socio-economic accompaniment, the welfare state, has stabled itself as a uniquely serious practical claimant to modern political legitimacy. HISTORY OF POLITICS Aim: to identify prospective consequences of a certain line of conduct

It is difficult to master the RANGE of historical political traditions (Islamic, Chinese/Japanese). Mostly restricted to western political theory, which is more continuous and systematic. Aristotle: Good human communities must be communities of agents thinking and acting together for a common good, and politics (the collective life of communities genuinely engaged in this activity) is therefore deeply involved in the search for, and the attempt to realise, the human good. Many of the great historical texts of pol theory are concerned with political causality i.e. to understand politics with reflection on the nature and force of human values. CONTRACTUALISM

1. THE ANCIENT WORLD - Debate over whether politics was natural necessity (phusis) or products of human choice and convention (nomos) - For Aristotle, what makes human beings unique amongst animals is their perception of good and evil, justice and injustice, and their power, through language, to articulate and deepen this perception. Human beings are not naturally compelled to live in a polis. Earlier and more primitive forms of association, sexual, domestic and monarchical, all have their roots in nature and in human need. But only in a polis can men realise fully their most distinctively and admirably human characteristics. - In Platos Crito, his brief dialogue with Socrates reveals that political obligation (i.e. obligation to obey the authority of a free community) is absolute, as it is a gratitude for benefits received. 2. THE MEDIEVAL WORLD European feudal society was built upon a single relation: the personal tie of feudal subordination of a vassal to his lord. In the act of homage the vassal pledged aid and serviceto his lord in return for the latters protection (i.e. exchange of obedience for protection) The dominance of the church/intricate balance of civil and ecclesiastical power/complexity of ecclesiastical institutions also prompted inquiry into the principles of legitimate organisation within the church. 3. THE IMPACT OF THE REFORMATION Concepts of popular sovereignty were put to work in practice when the Reformation spilt the western church into a range of competing claimants to religious orthodoxy. In particular, people now felt a need to resist unjust rulers/political authorities, thus repudiating the duty of passive obedience from the Middle Ages. EXAMPLES (rise of people power) o Leading Huguenot resistance theorists (1570s) Monarchomachs Francois Hotman, Philippe Duplessis-Mornay and Theodore Beza first turned a contactarian conception of the origins of political obligation into a fully-fledged doctrine of the right to resist unjust rulers. Hotmans Francogallia defended the full subjection of the French crown to the political will of the people (he insisted that since the Estates and the people had conferred the crown in the first place, they retained full power not just to transfer it but to take it away as they judged fit) As single individuals the people and their magistrates remain firmly subordinate to their lawful monarch; but as a collectivity they are just as decisively his legal superior.

Communism (from Latin communis - common, universal) is arevolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, [1][2] moneyless and stateless social order structured upon common ownership of themeans of production, as well as a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order. The origins of communism are debatable, and there are various historical groups, as well as theorists, whose beliefs have been subsequently described as communist. German philosopherKarl Marx saw primitive communism as the original, huntergatherer state of humankind from which it arose. For Marx, only after humanity was capable of producing surplus, did private [10] property develop. The idea of a classless society first emerged inAncient Greece. Plato in his The Republic described it as a state where people shared all their property, wives, and children: "The private and individual is altogether banished from life and things which are by nature private, such as eyes and ears and hands, have become common, and in some way see and hear and act in common, and all men express praise and feel joy and sorrow on the same occasions." Communist thought has also been traced back to the work of 16th century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia (1516), More portrayed a society based on common ownership of property, whose rulers administered it through the application of reason. In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement of 19th century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the proletariata new class of urban factory workers who laboured under oftenhazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels. In 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. DEUTSCHLAND Unlike the American political system [click here] and the British political system [click here] which essentially have existed in their current form for centuries, the current German political system is a much more recent construct dating from 1949 when the American, British and French zones of occupation were consolidated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In 1990, the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic. However, the 1949 constitution embraces a central feature of the original German constitution of 1871 - which brought together Prussia with Europe's other German states (except Austria) - and the Weimar Constitution of 1919 - which involved a sharing of power between the central government and local Lnder (states) - namely a disperal of authority between different levels of goverment. So the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 1949 deliberately distributes power between the central government and the Lnder. The vitality of Germany's democratic system and the quality of its political leadership Chancellors such as Konrad Adenauer (1949-1963), Willy Brandt (1969-1974), Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982) and Helmut Kohl (1982-1998) have been enormously impressive. THE EXECUTIVE The head of state is the President, a largely ceremonial position, elected for a maximum of two five-year terms. The voters in the election for President are known collectively as the Federal Convention, which consists of all members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members nominated by the state legislatures - a total of 1,244. The current President is Joachim Gauck. The head of the government is the Chancellor (equivalent to the British Prime Minister). The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel of the CDU. Every four years, after national elections and the convocation of the newly elected members of the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected by a majority of the members of the Bundestag upon the proposal of the President. This vote is one of the few cases where a majority of all elected members of the Bundestag must be achieved, as opposed to a mere majority of those that are currently assembled. This is referred to as the Kanzlermehrheit (Chancellor's majority) and is designed to ensure the establishment of a stable government. Most significantly, the Chancellor cannot be dismissed by a vote of no confidence. In fact, in the six decades of the Bundestag, there have been only eight Chancellors a remarkable element of stability. In the same period of time, Italy has had 37 Prime Ministers (although some of served several separate terms of office). The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel of the CDU. As in Britain or France, day to day government is carried out by a Cabinet, the members of which are formally appointed by the President but in practice chosen by the Chancellor. Since Germany has a system of proportional representation for the election of its lower house, no one party wins an absolute majority of the seats and all German governments are therefore coalitions. THE BUNDESTAG

The lower house in the German political system is the Bundestag. Its members are elected for four-year terms. The method of election is known as mixed member proportional representation (MMPR), a more complicated system than first-past-post but one which gives a more proportional result (a variant of this system known as the additional member system is used for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly). Half of the members of the Bundestag are elected directly from 299 constituencies using the first-past-the post method of election. Then the other half another 299 - are elected from the list of the parties on the basis of each Land (the 16 regions that make up Germany). This means that each voter has two votes in the elections to the Bundestag. The first vote allows voters to elect their local representatives to the Parliament and decides which candidates are sent to Parliament from the constituencies. The second vote is cast for a party list and it is this second vote that determines the relative strengths of the parties represented in the Bundestag. The 598 seats are only distributed among the parties that have gained more than 5% of the second votes or at least 3 direct mandates. Each of these parties is allocated seats in the Bundestag in proportion to the number of votes it has received. This system is designed to block membership of the Bundestag to small, extremist parties. As a consequence, there are always a small number of parties with representation in the Bundestag currently the figure is only six (and effectively the CDU and the CSU are the same party). At least 598 members of the Bundestag are elected in this way. In addition to this, there are certain circumstances in which some candidates win what are known as an overhang seat when the seats are being distributed. This situation occurs if a party has gained more direct mandates in a Lnd than it is entitled to according to the results of the second vote, when it does not forfeit these mandates because all directly elected candidates are guaranteed a seat in the Bundestag. This electoral system results in a varying number of seats in the Bundestag. In the 2005 elections, there were 16 overhang seats while, at the last election in 2009, there were even more overhang seats (24). In 2008, the highest German court de-legalized the overhang seats claiming them to be "absurd" and obliged the Bundestag to change the electoral system on that issue. A deadline was fixed for doing so of end June 2011. One striking difference when comparing the Bundestag with the American Congress or the British House of Commons is the lack of time spent on serving constituents in Germany. In part, that difference results from the fact that only 50% of Bundestag members are directly elected to represent a specific geographic district. In part, it is because constituency service seems not to be perceived, either by the electorate or by the representatives, as a critical function of the legislator and a practical constraint on the expansion of constituent service is the limited personal staff of Bundestag members (especially compared to members of the US Congress). The Bundestag elects the Chancellor for a four-year term and is the main legislative body. Link: Bundestag click here THE BUNDESRAT The upper house in the German political system is the Bundesrat. At first glance, the composition of the Bundesrat looks similar to other upper houses in federal states such as the US Congress since the Bundestag is a body representing all the German Lnder (or regional states). However, there are two fundamental differences in the German system: 1. Its members are not elected, neither by popular vote nor by the state parliaments, but are members of the state cabinets which appoint them and can remove them at any time. Normally, a state delegation is headed by the head of government in that Land known in Germany as the Minister-President. The states are not represented by an equal number of delegates, since the population of the respective state is a major factor in the allocation of votes (rather than delegates) to each particular Land. The votes allocation can be approximated as 2.01 + the square root of the Land's population in millions with the additional limit of a maximum of six votes so that it is consistent with something called the Penrose method based on game theory. This means that the 16 states have between three and six delegates.

2.

This unusual method of composition provides for a total of 69 votes (not seats) in the Bundesrat. The state cabinet then may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, but is under no obligation to do so; it can restrict the state delegation even to one single delegate. The number of members or delegates representing a particular Land does not matter formally since, in stark contrast to many other legislative bodies, the delegates to the Bundesrat from any one state are required to cast the votes of the state as a bloc (since the votes are not those of the respective delegate). This means that in practice it is possible (and quite customary) that only one of the delegates (the Stimmf hrer or "leader of the votes" - normally the Minister-President) casts all the votes of the respective state, even if the other members of the delegation are present in the chamber. Even with a full delegate appointment of 69, the Bunsderat is a much smaller body that the Bundestag with over 600 members. It is unusual for the two chambers of a bicameral system to be quite so unequal in size. The Bundesrat has the power to veto legislation that affects the powers of the states.

POLITICAL PARTIES Like many countries including Britain, France, and the USA Germany has two major party groupings, one Centre-Right and the other Centre-Left. The Centre-Right grouping comprises two political parties that operate in different parts of the country so that there is no direct electoral competition between them. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) operates in all the Lnder except Bavaria, while the Christian Social Union (CSU) operates only in Bavaria. The Centre-Left party is the Social Democratic Party (SPD in German). The other parties represented in the Bundestag are:

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) a Rightist party The Left Party built on the former Communist Party The Alliance '90/The Greens the German Green party

The electoral system in the German political system means that coalition governments are very common. The Social Democratic Party was in coalition with the Greens the Red/Green coalition - from 1998-2005 and, from 2005-2009, there was a 'grand coalition' between the CDU/CSU and the SDP. Since 2009, the CDU/CSU has been in a coalition with the FDP. Unusually political parties in Germany receive significant public finds and the costs of election campaigns are substantially met from the public purse. THE JUDICIARY Germany's supreme court is called the Federal Constitutional Court and its role is essentially as guardian of the constitution. There are 16 judges divided between two panels called Senates, each holding office for a non-renewable term of 12 years. Half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat, in both cases by a two-thirds majority. Once appointed, a judge can only be removed by the Court itself. Whereas the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have moved from Bonn to Berlin, the Constitutional Court is located in Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Wrttemberg. THE LNDER During the initial occupation of Germany after the Second World War the territory in each Occupation Zone was re-organized into new Lnder (singular Land) to prevent any one Land from ever dominating Germany (as Prussia had done). Later the Lnder in the western part of the former German Reich were constituted as administrative areas first and subsequently federated into theBund or Federal Republic of Germany. Today, following the reunification of Germany, there are 16 Lnder in the German political system. The cities of Berlin and Hamburg are states in their own right, termed Stadtstaaten (city states), while Bremen consists of two urban districts. The remaining 13 states are termed Fl chenl nder (area states). The Basic Law accords significant powers to the 16 Lnder. Furthermore there is a strong system of state courts. Politics at the state level often carries implications for federal politics. Opposition victories in elections for state parliaments, which take place throughout the federal government's four-year term, can weaken the federal government because state governments have assigned seats in the Bundesrat. CONCLUSION Like all political systems, the German one has its strengths and weaknesses. The great strength of the system a deliberate feature of the post-war constitution is the consensual nature of its decision-making processes. The Bundesrat serves as a control mechanism on the Bundestag. Since the executive and legislative functions are closely intertwined in any parliamentary system, the Bundesrat's ability to revisit and slow down legislative processes could be seen as making up for that loss of separation. On the other hand, it can be argued that the system makes decision-making opaque. Some observers claim that the opposing majorities in the two chambers lead to an increase in backroom politics where small groups of high-level leaders make all the important decisions and then the Bundestag representatives only have a choice between agreeing with them or not getting anything done at all.

Bundestag Der Bundestag beschliet Bundesgesetze, whlt den Bundeskanzler sowie als Teil der Bundesversammlung den Bundesprsidenten, wacht ber den Bundeshaushalt, kontrolliert die Regierung, beschliet Einstze der Bundeswehr, bildet Ausschsse zur Gesetzesvorbereitung und kontrolliert die Nachrichtendienste. Der Abgeordnete ist zwar nach dem Grundgesetz unabhngig von seiner politischen Partei oder anderen Interessengruppen, betrachtet man jedoch die Verfassungswirklichkeit, sieht man den starken Einfluss der Fraktionsdisziplin. Die Abgeordneten der einzelnen Parteien einigen sich meist vor einem Gesetzesvorhaben auf ein gemeinsames Abstimmungsverhalten. Abweichungen knnen innerparteilich sanktioniert werden, da die erfolgreiche erneute Kandidatur eines Abgeordneten stark von der Untersttzung seiner Partei abhngt. Hter der Fraktionsdisziplin ist der Fraktionsvorsitzende. Bundesrat Die Mitglieder des Bundesrats werden von den Landesregierungen der Lnder entsandt. Er ist kein rein legislatives Organ, da er beispielsweise bei bestimmten Bundesverordnungen Mitspracherecht hat. Er wurde geschaffen, um die Mitwirkung der Lnder an Bundesgesetzen zu gewhrleisten, wenn diese die Belange der Lnder betreffen. Er ist stets beim Gesetzgebungsprozess beteiligt, sein Veto kann jedoch berstimmt werden, wenn ein Bundesgesetz nicht zustimmungsbedrftig ist. Jedes Land erhlt nach der Zahl seiner Einwohner im Bundesrat 3-6 Stimmen, diese Stimmen knnen pro Land nur einheitlich abgegeben werden. Sind sich die in der Landesregierung des jeweiligen Landes vertretenen Parteien ber das Abstimmungsverhalten im Bundesrat uneins, stimmen die Vertreter des Landes blicherweise mit Enthaltung ab, was jedoch de facto als Neinstimme gilt. Bei Konflikten zwischen Bundesrat und Bundestag kann der Vermittlungsausschuss angerufen werden. Die Sitzungsleitung im Bundesrat hat der Bundesratsprsident inne, der gleichzeitig Vertretung des Bundesprsidenten ist.

Deutschland ist eines der Grndungsmitglieder der Europischen Union, an die es ber den EU-Vertrag und den AEUVertragbestimmte Hoheitsrechte bertragen hat. Die nationale verfassungsrechtliche Grundlage dafr bietet Art. 23 GG, der eine Teilnahme am europischen Integrationsprozess ausdrcklich vorsieht. Alle deutschen Staatsbrger besitzen zugleich die Unionsbrgerschaft. Diese ermglicht ihnen unter anderem die Teilnahme anEuropawahlen zum Europischen Parlament sowie die Beteiligung an Europischen Brgerinitiativen. Eine Diskriminierung von Unionsbrgern aufgrund ihrer Staatsangehrigkeit ist in allen EU-Mitgliedstaaten verboten. Innerhalb des politischen Systems der Europischen Union ist die deutsche Bundesregierung im Rat der Europischen Union sowie imEuropischen Rat vertreten. Auerdem sind auch Bundestag und Bundesrat an der deutschen Europapolitik beteiligt, etwa durch dasGesetz ber die Zusammenarbeit von Bundesregierung und Deutschem Bundestag in Angelegenheiten der Europischen Union(EUZBBG) und das Gesetz ber die Wahrnehmung der Integrationsverantwortung des Bundestages und des Bundesrates in Angelegenheiten der Europischen Union (IntVG). ber den Ausschuss der Regionen sind auch die deutschen Lnder und Kommunen auf europischer Ebene vertreten. Rechtsakte der Europischen Union sind in Deutschland teilweise unmittelbar gltig (EU-Verordnungen), teilweise sind die deutschen Organe verpflichtet, diese in nationales Recht umzusetzen (EU-Richtlinien). Das von der EU gesetzte Europarecht (auch als Unionsrecht bezeichnet) hat nach der Costa/ENELEntscheidung einen Anwendungsvorrang gegenber dem deutschen nationalen Recht. Oberste richterliche Instanz ist dabei der Europische Gerichtshof. Allerdings darf die EU nach dem Prinzip der begrenzten Einzelermchtigung nur in solchen Bereichen Recht setzen, die in den Vertrgen ausdrcklich vorgesehen sind. Das deutsche Bundesverfassungsgericht behlt sich im Lissabon-Urteil eine diesbezgliche Prfung europischer Rechtsakte vor, die sogenannte Ultra-vires-Kontrolle.

What does Aristotle mean when he says "man is a political animal"? According to Aristotle, the end goal of human life is happiness, which is found in the application of reason. This life of good quality is not possible except within the confines of a city. Man needs the leisure and the social interaction that citizens in a polis enjoy in order to enjoy achieve this happiness. As a result, non-citizens are unable to attain true happiness or rationality and are thus less complete, less human than citizens. To realize his true human nature, man must take part in political life, and so, Aristotle concludes, he is a political animal. What are Aristotle's main arguments in defense of private property? Aristotle argues that private property is not the root of man's wickedness, but rather a manifestation. Because man's wickedness runs deep, eliminating private property will not make man better. Aristotle suggests instead that education and moderation will eliminate vice. He also points out that the important virtue of generosity would not be possible if there were no private property with which to be generous. Is a good citizen the same thing as a good man? Why or why not? The ideal citizen is someone who best serves the ends of the city. Because there are many different kinds of constitutions, and each constitution calls for many different kinds of citizens, there must necessarily be many different standards for excellence in a citizen. However, there is only one universal standard for excellence in a man. Thus it is possible for a good citizen not to be a good man. The end goal of every city is to make a life of good quality possible for its citizens, but only the best citizens in the best city will be able to attain this end. A good leader, Aristotle suggests, is practiced at both ruling and being ruled, and so has all the necessary qualities that make a good man. Global governance or world governance is the political interaction of transnational actors aimed at solving problems that affect more than one state or region when there is no power of enforcing compliance. The modern question of world governance exists in the context of globalization. In response to the acceleration of interdependence on a worldwide scale, both between human societies and between humankind and the biosphere, world governance designates regulations intended for the global scale. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of a very long period of international history based on a policy of balance of powers. Since this historic event, the planet has entered a phase of geostrategic breakdown. The national-security model, for example, while still in place for most governments, is gradually giving way to an emerging collective conscience that extends beyond the restricted framework it represents.
[1] [citation needed]

The question of world governance did not arise until the early 1990s. emerge based on a number of issues:

Up until then, the term "interdependence" had

been used to designate the management of relations among states. The post-Cold War world of the 1990s saw a new paradigm

The growing idea of globalization as a significant theme and the subsequent weakening of nation-states, points to a prospect of transferring to a global level of regulatory instruments. Upon the model that regulation was no longer working effectively at the national or regional levels.

An intensification of environmental concerns, which received multilateral endorsement at the Rio Earth Summit (1992). The Summit issues, relating to the climate and biodiversity, symbolized a new approach that was soon to be expressed conceptually by the term Global Commons.

The emergence of conflicts over standards: trade and the environment, trade and property rights, trade and public health. These conflicts continued the traditional debate over the social effects of macroeconomic stabilization policies, and raised the question of arbitration among equally legitimate objectives in a compartmentalized governance system where the major areas of interdependence are each entrusted to a specialized international institution. Although often limited in scope, these conflicts are nevertheless symbolically powerful, as they raise the question of the principles and institutions of arbitration.

An increased questioning of international standards and institutions by developing countries, which, having entered the global economy, find it hard to accept that industrialized countries hold onto power and give preference to their own interests. The challenge also comes from civil society, which considers that the international governance system has become the real seat of power and which rejects both its principles and procedures. Although these two lines of criticism often have conflicting beliefs and goals, they have been known to join in order to oppose the dominance of developed countries and major institutions, as demonstrated symbolically by the failure of the World Trade Organization 1999 Ministerial Conference in Seattle.
[2]

Definition In a simple and broad-based definition of world governance, the term is used to designate all regulations intended for organization & centralization of human societies on a global scale.
[3]

Traditionally, government has been associated with "governing," or with political authority, institutions, and, ultimately, control. Governance however denotes formal political institutions that aim to coordinate and control independent social relations, and that have the ability to enforce, by force, their decisions. However, authors likeJames Rosenau system. Some now speak of the development of "global public policy".
[5] [4]

have also used "governance" to

denote the regulation of interdependent relations in the absence of an overarching political authority, such as in the international

"the management of global processes in the absence of global government." "'Global governance'which can be good, bad, or indifferentrefers to concrete cooperative problem-solving arrangements, many of which increasingly involve not only the United Nations of states but also 'other UNs,' namely international secretariats and other non-state actors." These "cooperative problem-solving arrangements" may be formal, taking the shape of laws or formally constituted institutions for a variety of actors (such as state authorities, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs),non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector entities, other civil society actors, and individuals) to manage collective affairs. They may also be informal (as in the case of practices or guidelines) or ad hoc entities (as in the case of coalitions). Thus, global governance may be defined as "the complex of formal and informal institutions, mechanisms, relationships, and processes between and among states, markets, citizens and organizations, both inter- and non-governmental, through which collective interests on the global plane are articulated, Duties, obligations and privileges are established, and differences are mediated through educated professionals." Global governance is not world government, and even less democratic globalization. In fact, global governance would not be necessary, were there a world government. Domestic governments have monopolies on the use of forcethe power of enforcement. Global governance refers to the political interaction that is required to solve problems that affect more than one state or region when there is no power to enforce compliance. Problems arise, and networks of actors are constructed to deal with them in the absence of an international analogue to a domestic government. This system has been termed disaggregated sovereignty.

European union!!!!
The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,Malta, the Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.) which are located primarily inEurope.
[11][12]

The EU operates through a system ofsupranational independent institutions

[13][14][15]

andintergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.

Important institutions of the EU include the European

Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank. TheEuropean Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens. The EU's de facto capital is Brussels.
[16]

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by the Inner Six countries in 1951 and 1958 respectively. In the intervening years the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treatyestablished the European Union under its current name in 1993. EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009. The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area (which includes 22 EU and 4 non-EU states) passport controls have been abolished. ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, common policies on trade,
[20] [19] [18] [17]

The latest amendment to the constitutional basis of the

EU policies aim to

enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain

[22]

agriculture,

[21]

fisheriesand regional development.

A monetary union, theeurozone, was established

in 1999 and is composed of 17 member states. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. Permanent diplomatic missionshave been established around the world. The EU is represented at the United Nations, the WTO, the G8 and the G-20. With a combined population of over 500 million inhabitants, when measured in terms of purchasing power parity.
[25] [23]

or 7.3% of the world population,

[24]

the EU, in 2011, generated the

[26]

largest nominal world gross domestic product (GDP) of 17.6 trillion US dollars, representing approximately 20% of the global GDP The EU was the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.

After World War II, moves towards European integration were seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism that had devastated the continent. live and study together.
[28] [27]

The 1948 Hague Congress was a pivotal moment in European federal history, as it led to the

creation of the European Movement International and also of the College of Europe, a place where Europe's future leaders would 1951 saw the creation of theEuropean Coal and Steel Community, which was declared to be "a first step
[29]

in the federation of Europe", starting with the aim of eliminating the possibility of further wars between its member states by means of pooling the national heavy industries. The founding members of the Community were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg,
[30]

the Netherlands, and West Germany. The originators and supporters of the Community include Alcide De Gasperi,Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Paul-Henri Spaak.

In 1957, the six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, which extended the earlier cooperation within the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and created the European Economic Community, (EEC) establishing acustoms union. They also signed another treaty on the same day creating the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for cooperation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958.
[30]

The EEC and Euratom were created separately from ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The executives of the new communities were called Commissions, as opposed to the "High Authority". The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein (Hallstein Commission) and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand (Armand Commission) and then tienne Hirsch. Euratom would integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union between members.
[31][32]

Throughout the 1960s tensions began to show with France seeking to limit supranational power. However, in 1965 an agreement was reached and hence in 1967 the Merger Treaty was signed in Brussels. It came into force on 1 July 1967 and created a single set of institutions for the three communities, which were collectively referred to as the European Communities (EC), although commonly just as the European Community.
[33][34]

Jean Reypresided over the first merged Commission (Rey Commission).

[35]

In 1973 the Communities enlarged to include Denmark (including Greenland, which later left the Community in 1985), Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
[36]

Norway had negotiated to join at the same time but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
[37]

and so Norway remained outside. In 1979, the first direct, democratic elections to the European Parliament were held. Greece joined in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986. flag began to be used by the Community
[40] [38]

In 1985, the Schengen Agreement led the way toward the creation of open
[39]

borders without passport controls between most member states and some non-member states. and the Single European Act was signed.

In 1986, the European

In 1990, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the former East Germany became part of the Community as part of a newly united Germany.
[41]

With enlargement towards European formerly communist countries as well as Cyprus and Malta on the agenda,

the Copenhagen criteria for candidate members to join the European Union were agreed. The European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treatywhose main architects were Helmut Kohl and Franois Mitterrandcame into force on 1 November 1993,
[17]

and in 1995 Austria, Finland and Swedenjoined the newly established EU. In

2002, euro notes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 of the member states. Since then, the eurozone has increased to encompass 17 countries. In 2004, the EU saw its biggest enlargement to date when Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the Union.
[42] [42]

On 1 January 2007, Romania and Bulgaria became the EU's members. In the same year Slovenia adopted the euro,

followed in

2008 by Cyprus and Malta, by Slovakia in 2009 and by Estonia in 2011. In June 2009, the 2009 Parliament elections were held leading to a renewal of Barroso's Commission Presidency, and in July 2009 Iceland formally applied for EU membership. On 1 December 2009, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and reformed many aspects of the EU. In particular it changed the legal structure of the European Union, merging the EU three pillars system into a single legal entity provisioned with legal personality, and it created a permanent President of the European Council, the first of which is Herman Van Rompuy, and a strengthened High Representative, Catherine Ashton.
[43] [44]

On 9 December 2011, Croatia signed the EU accession treaty.

The EU accession referendum was held in Croatia on 22 January

2012, with the majority voting for Croatia's accession to the European Union making it the 28th member state as of July 2013. The European Union received the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for having "contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe."
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The Nobel Committee stated that "that dreadful suffering in World War
[47]

II demonstrated the need for a new Europe [...] today war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners." decision was subject to considerable criticism. The Nobel Committee's

The EU operates solely within those competencies conferred on it upon the treaties and according to the principle of subsidiarity (which dictates that action by the EU should only be taken where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states alone). Laws made by the EU institutions are passed in a variety of forms. Generally speaking they can be classified into two groups: those which come into force without the necessity for national implementation measures, and those which specifically require national implementation measures. Constitutional nature of the European Union The classification of the European Union in terms of international or constitutional law has been much debated, often in the light of the degree of integration that is perceived, desired, or expected. Historically, at least, the EU is an international organization, and by some criteria, it could be classified as a confederation; but it also has many attributes of a federation, so some would classify it as a (de facto) federation of states. For this reason, the organization has, in the past, been termed sui generis (incomparable, one of a kind), though it is also argued that this designation is no longer true. The organization itself has traditionally used the terms "community", and later "union". The difficulties of classification involve the difference between national law (where the subjects of the law include natural persons and corporations) and international law (where the subjects include sovereign states and international organizations); they can also be seen in the light of differing European and American constitutional traditions. Especially in terms of the European constitutional tradition, the term federation is equated with a sovereign federal state in international law; so the EU cannot be called a federal state or federationat least, not without qualification. Though not, strictly, a federation, it is more than a free-trade association. unfinished federal state".
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It is, however, described as being

based on a federal model or federal in nature. Walter Hallstein, in the original German edition of Europe in the Making called it "an The German Constitutional Court refers to the European Union as an association of sovereign
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states and affirms that making the EU a federation would require replacement of the German constitution. not develop into a federal state but has reached maturity as an international organization. Governance
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Others claim that it will

The European Union has seven institutions: the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, theEuropean Commission, the European Council, the European Central Bank, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Auditors. Competencies in scrutinising and amending legislation are divided between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union while executive tasks are carried out by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council (not to be confused with the aforementioned Council of the European Union). The monetary policy of the eurozone is governed by theEuropean Central Bank. The interpretation and the application of EU law and the treaties are ensured by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The EU budget is scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors. There are also a number of ancillary bodies which advise the EU or operate in a specific area. EUROPEAN COUNCIL The European Council gives direction to the EU, and convenes at least four times a year. It comprises thePresident of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and one representative permember state; either its head of state or head of government. The European Council has been described by some as the Union's "supreme political authority". is actively involved in the negotiation of the treaty changes and defines the EU's policy agenda and strategies. The European Council uses its leadership role to sort out disputes between member states and the institutions, and to resolve political crises and disagreements over controversial issues and policies. It acts externally as a "collective head of state" and ratifies important documents (for example, international agreements and treaties).
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It

On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy was chosen as the first permanentPresident of the European Council. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbonentered into force and he assumed office. Ensuring the external representation of the EU,
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driving consensus and settling divergences among members are tasks for the President both during the convocations of the

European Council and in the time periods between them. The European Council should not be mistaken for theCouncil of Europe, an international organisation independent from the EU.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION The European Commission acts as the EU'sexecutive arm and is responsible for initiating legislation and the day-to-day running of the EU. The Commission is also seen as the motor of European integration. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27Commissioners for different areas of policy, one from each member state, though Commissioners are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 27 is the Commission President (currently Jos Manuel Duro Barroso) appointed by the European Council. After the President, the most prominent Commissioner is the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy who is ex-officio Vice President of the Commission and is chosen by the European Council too. as a single body are subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament.
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The other 25 Commissioners are

subsequently appointed by the Council of the European Union in agreement with the nominated President. The 27 Commissioners

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT The European Parliament (EP) forms one half of the EU's legislature (the other half is the Council of the European Union, see below). The 736 (soon to be 751) Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU citizens every five years on the basis of proportional representation. Although MEPs are elected on a national basis, they sit according to political groupsrather than their nationality. Each country has a set number of seats and is divided into sub-national constituencies where this does not affect the proportional nature of the voting system. THE MAASTRICHT TREATY The treaty led to the creation of the euro, and created what was commonly referred to as the pillar structure of the European Union. The treaty established the three pillars of the European Union the European Community (EC) pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) pillar, and the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar. The first pillar was where the EU's supra-national institutions the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice had the most power and influence. The other two pillars were essentially more intergovernmental in nature with decisions being made by committees composed of member states' politicians and officials.