Europe Economic Britain
Growing uniformity between Western European nations since 1945 has become increasingly evident. Within Western Europe nations have often been united by an overwhelming desire for peace. This was particularly true immediately following World War II. In later years economies and social structures have become more uniform and result in a growing middle class. This paper will discuss with reference and examination on the nations of Great Britain and France, three key issues concerned from a comparative perspective: The political structures, economic policies, and social divisions. Britain and France both enjoy a long democratic history over the course of two centuries; however there are many apparent differences between Britain and France. Britain is a model of solidity and continuity, where as since the eighteenth century France has experimented with virtually every conceivable form of government; the French system is a product of revolution, whereas Britain has been evolving with slow, progressive changes ever since the seventeenth century. The British proved that a nation can establish a democracy without dismantling the monarchy, while in France setting up a democracy involved getting rid of the monarchy. After World War II Western Europe saw that to survive and avoid further pointless wars they have to join and integrate and thus came the formation of the European Union which in just half a century has transformed Europe into a highly cohesive economic machine and enjoyed the longest period of peace in its recorded history. France from the beginning has had a central and influential role in the European Union whereas Britain due to their very close ties to the United States and their reluctance to accept any loss of sovereignty that integration implied were seen as a liability and not given admittance into the EU until the mid 1970s. Another factor that changed after 1945 was the social structure of these countries. Socially there is more acceptances of different races and cultures and immigration for movement of workers within Western Europe.
Western European nations have become more and more similar to each other, especially in terms of government and political structure. The EU has seen a growth from fifteen countries to today twenty five members. The European Union has developed economic policies which member states in Western Europe have taken up to a greater or lesser degree resulting in the economies of nations becoming more uniform, e.g. The Euro Currency. As McCormack 1999 strongly puts it The Creation of the EU will go down in history as one of the most remarkable achievements of the twentieth century, this is undoubtedly true, in the period of less than half a century Europeans fought two atrocious wars against each other, finally saw that there is no point to all of it and felt the dangers of nationalism and the uselessness of violence, and sat down to put in place a system that would make sure that they would never fight against each other again. The result has been significant. A body of treaties and laws has been agreed and a set of institutions has been created that have altered the political, economic and social landscape of Western Europe. The EU has changed the ways Europeans relate to each other, redeemed the balance of power in the world by creating a new economic superpower, and helped bring Europe to the largest uninterrupted spell of peace in its recorded history.
Most European countries varying themes of parliamentary government, with either a monarch or a president as figurehead; executive power is vested in an elected prime minister. Britain is a constitutional monarchy, the monarchs have negligible power and government is carried out in their name they reign, but they do not rule The Queen is limited to ceremonial roles, and is normally afforded little opportunity to advice or influence the elected head of the government. So basically, Great Britain is a Parliamentary democracy in which sovereignty is with the Crown in Parliament. The making of laws rests with the tripartite sovereignty of Crown in both Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons.
'In contrast the French do not have any monarchy in their system and have not for a long time. Their structure is a mixed presidential/parliamentary system of government. Executive power is rested in the President, who is directly elected by the people, but legislative power is vested in the legislature, overseen by a Prime Minister and a council of ministers. If the President's party dominates the legislature, the president has substantial powers over appointments, and the legislative program - the prime minister and the council of ministers are appointed by the president.' If however the president's party is in a minority, the prime minister and the council of ministers from a different party, base their power on their support in the legislature and are much less obliged to the president.
The Atantic Alliance and the 'special relationship' in which the British had with the United States was a major factor or the European Union's early and long resistance to Britain. Until the 1960s Western Europe was seen as being the least important of these relationships. Secondly, successive British governments were not prepared to accept the loss of sovereignty that integration implied. There were many reasons for this, of which most important were: Britain's long established parliamentary tradition: the record, for which there was huge pride, of not having ever been invaded or controlled by foreign powers in modern times. So the UK was barred from Community membership until 1969 when the French Presidency was replaced by Georges Pompidou. A different view was then taken in by the EU: the UK may serve as useful counter punch to the increasingly strong and self confident Germany; UK governments would lend support to France's opposition to pressures from within the community for increased supranationalism; and France would gain economically by having better access to UK markets and as a result of the UK being a net contributor to the community budget. Even at present in today's world Britain's position and ambivalence still remains strong, even geographically is remains 'outside' of Europe and looking in when it comes to the Euro currency.
Western European including Britain and France has become much more trade oriented toward each other since 1945. This has been of great benefit to these nations and seen great growth in their economy and standard of living. As a result of increasing development there has been large increase in the middle class and decrease in absolute poverty. It has become increasingly easy for Western Europeans to cross borders. Immigration for movement of workers within Western Europe and the mixing of cultures is more than ever prevalent. All in all Nations of Western Europe have become much more uniform in respect to one another, however they still retain their own identity and issues in dealing with European Union. Where as France had always been a powerhouse and the voice of the EU, Britain has always had a back seat view and never really felt part of the Community, they are with the EU because they have to be, it's a relationship of convenience where the British know that have to deal with the EU but at the same time have a distance toward the community. All this is not to say that the relationship of France and the UK are decayed or weakening in any way. Just recently in a two day visit to Britain last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy worked for a closer alliance between the two countries. Sarkozy spoke before both houses of the British Parliament and utilised his address to advocate, in his own words, a new Franco-British brotherhood for the 21st Century. Sarkozy even sought to use the fact that England and France were often at war in previous periods to argue for a closer alliance. France and England fought each other for centuries, he declared, each asserting her identity by opposing the other, fighting not because they were too different, but because they were too alike. Sarkozy spoke of future cooperation between the two countries in military terms. The United Kingdom and France have a major role to play, he proclaimed, referring to the current worldwide military engagements of both countries. His visit and flattering words come at a time where Both France and Britain are in a relatively low economic growth period and the rivalry that both nations have with Europe most contestant and powerful economy: Germany.
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