The future of the state in a global context: Is the European Union a super state?

Résumé du document

The organization of the world has been changing for the past few decades. Besides the nation sates, a lot of different forms of organization have been coming up. The development of international relations has brought about the need for organizations which enable cooperation between the national entities. After the First World War, the international society felt the need of gathering around values to guarantee a peaceful world. The states gave birth to the League of Nations in 1919 after the Paris Peace Conference. Post the Second World War the fear of the repeating of such atrocities convinced the states that creating international organization to cooperate with each other was the best way to keep the world pacifist.

Most of the organizations were created aiming at protecting and guaranteeing human rights at the international level. For instance the Charter of the United Nations says: "We the peoples of the United Nations determined to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained (...)to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security" . At the regional level, the Council of Europe in its European Convention on Human Rights, the member states declare: "Reaffirming their profound belief in those fundamental freedoms which are the foundation of justice and peace in the world and are best maintained on the one hand by an effective political democracy and on the other by a common understanding and observance of the human rights upon which they depend ; Being resolved, as the governments of European countries which are like minded and have a common heritage of political traditions, ideals, freedom and the rule of law, to take the first steps for the collective enforcement of certain of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration" . The other intention of these organizations was to become stronger by being unified.

Extraits

[...] Often, the laws are surpassed by political circumstances. However, one of the documents often quoted on the matter is the Montevideo Convention from 1933, the first article of which states: state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a permanent population; a defined territory; government; and capacity to enter into relations with the other states” According to Francis Fukuyama, the modern state deploys “large armies, taxation powers, and a centralized bureaucracy that could exercise authority over a large territory”[6]. [...]

[...] Being a European citizen confers rights and duties as it is stated in article 17 paragraph 2. It thus means that common rights and duties are shared by the peoples of Europe. However the treaty states that “Citizenship of the Union shall complement and not replace national citizenship”. In fact, the peoples of Europe are the European citizens. Moving into a further integration with the treaty of Maastricht establishing the European Union did not change that definition of European citizenship. [...]

[...] The will to provide a better world was one of the main reasons of the foundation of the European Community. The state being too weak to answer to some requests from the population is supposed to be stronger when allied to other states. However the traditional concepts of governance were shaped for nation state and not for international entities. The European Union has settled a decision-making process. “International decision-making takes place in a patchwork of institutions of territorially and functionally different and partly overlapping competences, a situation that has been characterized as Medievalism', creating a complexity of its own. [...]

[...] The concept of sovereignty is inherent to the state which has to be an independent entity. The second level of sovereignty is the external level; it means that the ruler over the area can rule without interference from the outside. To fulfill this condition, the state has to be recognized as a state by the international society and thus represent a national identity. Then it has the capacity to enter into relations with other states. It confers an international legal personality which enables the state to interact with members of the international society. [...]

[...] After qualifying the European Union, I will focus on the supranational aspect of it and see to what extend the European Union could be a “super state”. What is a State? The definition of a state has been evolving over the centuries, by going through the traditional and the modern definition of a State I will try to define the European Union The origins of the State The birth of the state, in the broadest sense of the word, coincides with the rise of civilization. [...]