Continental union

A map of the currently existing national and supranational continental unions.

A continental union is an inter-governmental, supra-national, or a federation of member states located in the same continent, or close to it^{[citation needed]}. Continental unions are a relatively new type of political entity in the history of human government. Throughout most of human history, political organization has been at the local level (i.e. tribal, city state) and in more recent centuries, the sub-regional ("regional")/sub-continental level (i.e. river system/basin empires, the modern "nation-state"); however, starting with the advent of better transportation, weapons and communication there was for the first time the ability for a union of member states to organize at the continental level. After the devastation of the first and second world wars in the middle of the 1900s Europe slowly evolved from its founding as the "Coal and Steel Community" to become a political union covering much of the European Continent (27 member states as of 2009).^[1][2][3] Seeking to follow in the foot steps of the European Union, in 2002 and 2008 the African Union and Union of South American Nations respectively, set down similar blueprints for integration into political and economic unions at the continental level.

Existing continental unions

There are 3 current continental unions, all with different stages of integration. The European Union was the first to be created, and is the basis for the other two. Other continental unions have been proposed.

European Union

The European Union has the largest economy (GDP) of the existing continental unions, and serves as the model which the African Union and the Union of South American Nations seek to follow.^[4]

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union^[5] of 27 member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community.^[6] A European Parliament has been created, directly elected by citizens of the EU. With almost 500 million citizens, the EU combined generates an estimated 30% share (US$18.4 trillion in 2008) of the nominal gross world product.^[7]

The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states, ensuring the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital.^[8] It maintains common policies on trade,^[9] agriculture, fisheries^[10] and regional development.^[11] Seventeen member states have adopted a common currency, the euro, constituting the Eurozone. The EU has developed a limited role in foreign policy, having representation at the WTO, G8, G20 and at the UN. It enacts legislation in justice and home affairs, including the abolition of passport controls by an agreement between the member states which form the Schengen Area.^[12]

African Union

The African Union (AU) at a size of 29,757,900 square kilometers and a population of 1 Billion is by far the largest of the existing continental unions in terms of both land mass and population.^[13] It includes all African countries except Morocco, which withdrew after the AU recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

The African Union was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).^[14] The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the February 2009 Union meeting headed by former Libyan leader Gaddafi, it was resolved that the African Union Commission would become the African Union Authority.^[15]

The African Union is made up of both political and administrative bodies. The highest decision-making organ of the African Union is the Assembly, made up of all the heads of state or government of member states of the AU. The Assembly is currently chaired by Muammar al-Gaddafi, former leader of Libya, elected at the tenth ordinary meeting of the Assembly in January 2009. The AU also has a representative body, the Pan African Parliament, which consists of 265 members elected by the national parliaments of the AU member states. The current president of the Pan African Parliament is Idriss Ndele Moussa. Other political institutions of the AU include the Executive Council, made up of foreign ministers, which prepares decisions for the Assembly; the Permanent Representatives Committee, made up of the ambassadors to Addis Ababa of AU member states; and the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), a civil society consultative body.

Union of South American Nations

Main article: Union of South American Nations

The Union of South American Nations (Português: União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL', Español: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas - UNASUR, Dutch:  Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties (help·info) - UZAN) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modeled on the European Union,^[16] and includes all of continental South America, except for French Guiana (which is an overseas department of France, and therefore part of the European Union). Panama is also not a member of the Union, though it holds observer status.

Unasur Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to it, the Secretariat headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of the Bank of the South (Portuguese: Banco do Sul, Spanish: Banco del Sur, Dutch: Bank van het Zuiden) are be located in Caracas, Venezuela. The South American Defence Council was formed on July 20, 2008, and had its first meeting on March 10, 2009. On May 4, 2010, the Heads of State of the Member States unanimously elected former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner as the first Secretary General of UNASUR.

In Canadian usage

In Canadian history and political science, the term "Continental Union" refers to the idea of creating a union between Canada and the United States, either by forming a new, super-national body in which both countries would become equal members, or by the United States annexing Canada. The ideology which favours Canadian integration with the United States, economically or politically, is known as "continentalism", the more radical version which favours Canada becoming part of the United States is called "annexationism". Continentalism has historically been one of three theories of Canadian nationality that predominated in English Canadian thought, the others being pro-British "Imperialism", and Canadian nationalism.^[17][18]

Proposed continental unions

• Asia Cooperation Dialogue
• ASEAN
• Central American Integration System
• Central Asian Union
• Eurasian Union
• North American Union
• Pacific Union
• Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
• Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
• Arab Union
• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

Certain regional international organisations have vocation, or are able to become continental unions, such as CARICOM in the Caribbean, ASEAN in Southeast Asia and SAARC in the Indian Subcontinent.

See also

• Continentalism
• Continental organization
• International organisation
• Supranational union
• Trade bloc

References

Notes

1. ^ Benelux customs and economic reforms greatly foreshadowed those of the EU
2. ^ Benelux social reforms greatly foreshadowed those of the EU
3. ^ Benelux parliamentary reforms greatly foreshadowed those of the EU
4. ^ Speech referring the European Union as a "Continental Union" Europa
5. ^ "Oxford Dictionary of English: European 5 b. spec. Designating a developing series of economic and political unions between certain countries of western (and later also eastern) Europe from 1952 onwards, as European Economic Community, European Community, European Union.". http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50078844?query_type=word&queryword=European&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=2&search_id=XNLm-9KGPpN-8152&hilite=50078844. Retrieved 27 October 2010. 
6. ^ Craig, Paul; Grainne De Burca , P. P. Craig (2006). EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th ed. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-19-927389-8. ; "Treaty of Maastricht on European Union". Activities of the European Union. Europa web portal. http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/economic_and_monetary_affairs/institutional_and_economic_framework/treaties_maastricht_en.htm. Retrieved 20 October 2007. 
7. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2009 Edition". International Monetary Fund. April 2009. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2009&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=001%2C998&s=NGDPD%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPSH&grp=1&a=1&pr.x=50&pr.y=9. Retrieved 24 April 2009. "
   Gross domestic product, current prices; U.S. dollars, Billions;
   2007=16,927.173
   2008=18,394.115
   2009=15,342.908 [projection]
   Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP; Current international dollar, Billions;
   2007=14,762.109
   2008=15,247.163
   2009=14,774.525 [projection]
   GDP based on PPP share of world total
   2007=22.605%
   2008=22.131% 2009=21.609% [projection]
   World "GDP", current prices; U.S. dollars, Billions;
   2007=54,840.873
   2008=60,689.812
   2009=54,863.551 [projection]
   These data were published in 2009. Data for 2009 are projections based on a number of assumptions." 
8. ^ European Commission. "The EU Single Market: Fewer barriers, more opportunities". Europa web portal. http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm. Retrieved 27 September 2007. "Activities of the European Union: Internal Market". Europa web portal. http://europa.eu/pol/singl/index_en.htm. Retrieved 29 June 2007. 
9. ^ "Common commercial policy". Europa Glossary. Europa web portal. http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/commercial_policy_en.htm. Retrieved 6 September 2008. 
10. ^ "Agriculture and Fisheries Council". The Council of the European Union. http://www.consilium.eu.int/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=414&lang=en&mode=g. Retrieved 6 September 2008. 
11. ^ "Overview of the European Union activities: Regional Policy". Europa web portal. http://europa.eu/pol/reg/overview_en.htm. Retrieved 6 September 2008. 
12. ^ "Abolition of internal borders and creation of a single EU external frontier". Europa web portal. 2005. Archived from the original on 2008-01-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20080113173116/http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/freetravel/frontiers/fsj_freetravel_schengen_en.htm. Retrieved 24 January 2007. 
13. ^ Reuters Article referring to the African Union as a "Continental Union" Reuters
14. ^ Thabo Mbeki (July 9, 2002). "Launch of the African Union, 9 July 2002: Address by the chairperson of the AU, President Thabo Mbeki". ABSA Stadium, Durban, South Africa: africa-union.org. http://www.africa-union.org/official_documents/Speeches_&_Statements/HE_Thabo_Mbiki/Launch%20of%20the%20African%20Union,%209%20July%202002.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
15. ^ "Africa | AU summit extended amid divisions". BBC News. 2009-02-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7868828.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-30. 
16. ^ Fox News Report calls the Union of South American Nations the formation of a "Continental Union" Fox News
17. ^ Warner, Frederic, The Idea of Continental Union: Agitation for the Annexation of Canada to the United States, 1849-1893, (University of Kentucky Press, 1960), passsim.
18. ^ Carl Berger, The Sense of Power. Studies in the ideas of Canadian imperialism, 1867-1914, (University of Toronto Press, 1970), passim.

External links

• African Union
• European Union
• Union of South American Nations