The government and politics of the Europe - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about The government and politics of Europe. Answer: Introduction The global economic, political and social framework, has over the years experienced immense dynamics with years, with the player countries in the international scenario experiencing phenomena in their economies which left lasting impacts not only on their path of progress but also had impacts on the other economies and policy structures of the countries which are related to their operations (Harrod and O'Brien 2012). The global economic and political environment being more integrated and inclusive in the contemporary period, with phenomena like Globalization, Liberalization policies implementing in the predominant economies, Free Trade Agreements, technological innovations and trade zones getting created and political scenarios becoming interconnected, robust networks and channel of communications are getting established between the different economies across the world (Pieterse 2015). Given this context, the economic and political incidents occurring in any corner of the world, are affecting the economies of the other remote countries. This is especially true for the eminent and economically influencing economies, which over the years have shown impressive economic and political traits and have gained the power to influence the activities of the economies in the global framework and their operations significantly (Both positive and negative) by their policies and economic, political and commercial activities (Busch and Matthes 2016). In the last few years, the global economy has been significantly influenced by the phenomena like the proposition of Brexit, the social and turmoil leading to the refugee crisis across different parts of the world and the decrease in the influence of the USA in the foreign policy structure in the Western countries. One of the primary ones to bear the brunt of all these phenomena has been the European Union, which has been experiencing immense turbulences and disturbing dynamics in its operational framework. The European Unions have been facing several challenges and potential changes which are expected to shape up its future operations and domain of existence (Hanf and Soetendorp 2014). Keeping this into consideration the report tries to discuss the discuss the recent dynamics and challenges existing in the European Union and for its remaining member countries, especially emphasizing on the economy of one of the most eminent member countries, France. The primary focus of the research is to analyze the challenges which the economy of France faces, in the contemporary period, taking into account the dynamics in the European Union, post the proposition of Brexit and other inter-country as well as exogenous turmoil (Gilpin 2016). The report also discusses the policies in the European Union, which France is concerned about and the changes the same wants to be implemented in the policy framework of the European Union, in order to increase its overall welfare and long term sustainability. The European Union: Challenges faced in the recent period The European Union, one of the biggest conglomerates existing in the world, was originally established as an union of twenty eight European countries, which operate under the cohesive economic as well as political environment. Of all these member countries, nineteen countries use the same currency (Euro) as their mode of transaction and doing business (Nugent 2017). The primary objectives behind the establishment of the European Union were creation of a free and cohesive environment to facilitate trade and commercial transactions among the member countries, thereby increasing the long term sustainability, profitability and economic progress of the same. The Union was also formed keeping in mind the notion that the creation of a cohesive political and economic environment among the member countries in general is expected to make the operational framework of these countries more stable, by ruling out the inter-country disturbances (Wallace, Pollack and Young 2015). However, in the recent global framework, with the increase in the number and magnitude of destabilizing phenomena, the European Union is expected to face several challenges which are expected to have considerable and long lasting impacts on its member countries and their domain of operation as well (Howorth 2014). The primary challenges for the Union are as follows: a) Brexit- Owing to the recent developments, one of the primary and the most influential economies falling in the domain of the European Union, that is Britain, has voted to leave the Union and emerge as an autonomous economy all by itself. All factors remaining unchanged, this pact is expected to come into existence on 29 th March, 2019. This in turn, is expected to create turmoil, not only in EU-UK relationship, but also in the economies and industrial aspects of other member nations (Bbc.com 2018). b) On-going refugee problems- The European countries have always been looked as places of resort for the immigrants from all corners of the world, who mainly seek refuge in these countries in search of better economic prospects, political stability and a better quality of life for them. However, in the last few years, the inflow of immigrants have increased immensely, much of which can be attributed to the economic, social, political and military disturbances occurring in the countries including Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and West Africa. The policies regarding the habilitation and intake of immigrants, under the policy framework of the EU being comparatively integrating and inclusive than other areas, this immigration has been highly facilitated (Aiyar et al. 2016). This in turn, has created immense disturbances in the overall political, economic and social environments of the member countries of the EU, which have been accommodating these immigrants. The countries primarily include Germany, France and Italy, whose economic stability has been immensely compromised, leading to a situation of unrest among the residents. c) Inefficiencies in the security and military policies- With the increase in the economic and political pressures across the different corners of the world as well as within the geographical region falling under the domain of operations of the European Union, there has been a significant increase in the anti-social and terrorism related activities in the domain of the Union, which has immensely affected the economic, political and social stability of the member countries of this Union. Keeping this into consideration, the EU also published the European Global Strategy in 2016, with the objective of creating an inclusive and coherent framework for handling the international relations of the Union. However, this proposition did not contribute as effectively in restoring the stability of the countries, thereby keeping the threats and security issues faced by the member countries partially unattended. d) Political and Economic Instability- The recent events like that of the proposition of Brexit, increasing refugee crisis, problems with the Euro currency and the political debacles in the member countries, it has become immensely difficult for the European countries to maintain their economic and political stability, which has made it a big challenge for the European Union to maintain the political and economic stability in the coming future, which in turn is expected to hugely affect the inter-dynamics between the member countries and their commercial transactions, thereby affecting the main objective for which the Union was actually established (Cini 2016). From the above discussion, it can be asserted that in the contemporary period, the European Union and its operational framework has been subjected to considerable challenges, attributed to the economic and political dynamics among the member countries as well as in the outside world affecting the member countries of the European Union. Keeping this into consideration, the following section of the report tries to analyze the dynamics in the economic and political environment of one of the member countries, France, keeping the activities and challenges in the European Union in the backdrop. France: Overview and Participation in the European Union France has over the years remained as one of the stable economies in the European region and is not only one of the member countries of the European Union but also one of those nineteen countries among the members which fall in the Euro-zone created by the European Union, which indicates that the country uses Euro as its official currency of transaction. France is in fact the largest of the member countries of the EU, hosting nearly 13.6% (2016) of its total population and with 74 seats in the Parliament of the European Union. The total spending of the Union in France (2015) amounts to as high as 14.468 billion Euro and the contribution of the country to the EU budget amounts to almost 19.013 billion Euro. The country, over the years, have developed significantly, under the commercial and business facilitating environment of the European Union which can be seen from the robust GDP statistics of the country (GDP amounting to almost 2.225 trillion euro in 2016) (Lange, Ross and Vannicelli 2016). The primary industries and sectors of importance of the country consists of mainly the public administration sector, defense and education sector. However, with the increase in the turmoil in the operational framework of the European Union, the country has also been experiencing disturbances, which have been having long term implications on the overall environment of the country. These problems being highly linked to the challenges faced by the European Union, there arises the need for rectifications and modifications in several aspects of the policy framework of the EU, for the benefit of the country in the long run. Challenges Faced by France As discussed above, in the contemporary political and economic environment, one of the primary challenges faced by France is the problem of over-migration of refugees from the socially and politically disturbed parts of the world, immigration being highly facilitated by the existing laws of the EU in this aspect. The major brunt of this has been faced by countries like Germany and France. Figure 1: Increase in immigration in France over the years (Source: Willsher and Kirchgaessner, 2018) This has led to creation of immense irritation of among the residents of the country, whose welfare; economic prosperity and security are being immensely compromised. Another aspect, in which the country has been experiencing considerable challenge is regarding the role of the country in the military and security front, under the domain of the European Union. On one hand, with Brexit coming into operation and Britain departing from the EU, there are high chances of France to become the primary military power in the entire UN, which can be attributed to its strong defense sector, increasing export of arms, able forces and NATO membership (Jeffery 2015). However, the country has been facing immense security issues, both endogenous as well as exogenous. On exogenous front, the country has been subjected to several terrorist attacks, much of which has been attributed to the increasing immigration problems, by the residents of the country. Apart from that, the country along with the other members of the EU, faces military and nuclear threats from outside Europe, which indicates towards the need for development of a robust and integrated military power for the Union. Figure 2: Increase in terrorist activities in the OECD countries over the years (Source: Loc.gov, 2018) Policies in EU which France cares about Given the above scenario, the primary policy under the operational framework, which France is bothered about is the immigration and refugee rehabilitation policy. In 1991, with the reform of the Common European Asylum System under the EU, the migrants were welcome and the ones who qualified as refugees were given international protection as well as subsidiary protection, based on their level of risk of sufferings. Over 10 million Euro was allocated for the purpose of restoration of these refugees. This policy, creating an immense pressure of increased inflow of immigrations in the European countries, has been one of the issues of concern in France. Apart from the immigration policy, France is also concerned about the existing military and security policies existing in operational framework of the EU. The current military policy framework of the EU has been proven to be lacking efficiency as there is no comprehensive policy present in this framework regarding combating the terrorism and military threats coming from outside the European zone as well as cropping up within the zone itself (Taylor et al. 2018). Changes France want in EU policy structure The primary change which the country wants to be implemented in the policy structure of the EU is in the immigration policy. Given that France and Germany are among the primary ones who bear the brunt of the excessive inflow of immigrants, the country wants the EU to make its immigration intake policy more stringent (by imposing quota on the intake of refugee on part of the member countries) and secured, which does not accommodate immigrants at the cost of the welfare and security of the residents of the country. In the contemporary scenario, given the increasing turmoil in the social and political environment prevailing in the European Union, France has over the years strongly advocated for the creation of a joint military force in the European Union, which may help the same to have autonomous capacity for action. This, however, needs to be done not for the purpose of replacing NATO, but for the purpose of complementing it. France has also advocated for a shared military budget, uniform defense policy framework as well as the creation of a joint training academy in this aspect for the member countries (Taylor et al. 2018). Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be asserted that given the disturbances in the overall economic, social and political environment in the global framework, the European Union faces several crucial challenges in the present times, which is expected to affect the welfare, stability and prosperity of the member countries as well, including France. France mainly faces challenges in terms of the increasing immigration problems and events which are compromising the security of the country and its citizens. In both the cases, the policies being less updated in the EU policy framework, changes in the same can benefit the country and also the other member countries in the long run. References Aiyar, S., Barkbu, B., Batini, N., Berger, H., Detragiache, E., Dizioli, A., Ebeke, C., Lin, H., Kaltani, L., Sosa, S. and Spilimbergo, A., 2016. The refugee surge in Europe.Europe: Imfstaff Discussion Note (SDN/16/02). Bbc.com (2018).Brexit: All you need to know. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887 [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Busch, B. and Matthes, J., 2016.Brexit-the economic impact: A meta-analysis(No. 10/2016). IW-Report. Cini, M., 2016.European union politics. Oxford University Press. Gilpin, R., 2016.The political economy of international relations. Princeton University Press. Hanf, K. and Soetendorp, B. eds., 2014.Adapting to European integration: small states and the European Union. Routledge. Harrod, J. and O'Brien, R. eds., 2012.Global unions?: theory and strategies of organized labour in the global political economy. Routledge. Howorth, J., 2014.Security and defence policy in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. Jeffery, C. ed., 2015.The regional dimension of the European Union: towards a third level in Europe?. Routledge. Lange, P., Ross, G. and Vannicelli, M., 2016.Unions, change and crisis: French and Italian union strategy and the political economy, 1945-1980. Routledge. Loc.gov (2018).Refugee Law and Policy: European Union. [online] Loc.gov. Available at: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/europeanunion.php [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Nugent, N., 2017.The government and politics of the European Union. Springer. Pieterse, J.N., 2015.Globalization and culture: Global mlange. Rowman Littlefield. Taylor, P., Karnitschnig, M., Herszenhorn, D. and Brianon, P. (2018).Frances next big challenge: defense policy. [online] POLITICO. Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-france-defense-next-big-challenge-military-policy-nato-terror-cybersecurity-war/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Wallace, H., Pollack, M.A. and Young, A.R. eds., 2015.Policy-making in the European Union. Oxford University Press, USA. Weforum.org (2018).The six issues that will shape the EU in 2017. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/the-six-issues-that-will-shape-the-eu-in-2017/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018]. Willsher, K. and Kirchgaessner, S. (2018).Germany and France demand binding refugee quotas for EU members. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/germany-france-eu-refugee-quotas-migration-crisis [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].