History is full of recordings of conflicts while peace is considered poor reading. The European Union, since its inception, has contributed to a stalemate in Europe, which has largely kept the peace in the continent. In fact, the union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012, for contributing to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.
Seated at the center of the European chessboard, the geopolitical heartlands of France and Germany share the flat landmass of the great European plane. Thus, while the human capital of France is situated between the Seine and Loire, Germany's core is spread across the country in tight clusters. Yet, since their Heartlands are exposed to one another, two incompatible national objectives are emerged in Berlin and Paris following the Napoleonic Wars and the unification of Germany, France needed to prevent the formation of a singular nation that could challenge its territorial integrity on the European plane, requiring Paris to keep the Germans divided and distracted. Meanwhile, Berlin needed to create a balance of power in the continent to keep outsider from interfering in German affairs. The pursuit of these opposing objectives brought the two nations into a series of devastating conflicts, however, over the course of their rivalry, and additional weakness became recognizable both nations were vulnerable to a two front conflict. For example, Germany's East was exposed to a land based conflict from the Polish and Russian front, while the western coastline of France was exposed to a naval conflict from the British and American front . German and French attempts to overcome their constraints through forceful means only enforced their impasse. Following World War Two. This stalemate came to an end when the proliferation of thermonuclear weapons and the revulsion of the past restrained the decision making process of European leaders. Policymakers from France and Germany were particularly affected by this new reality, and they had no choice but to pursue geopolitical goals by non military measures. At the same time, with the expanding influence of the Soviet Union, West Germany had to swiftly formulate a new policy. Under the circumstances, policymakers in Bonn in cooperation with their counterparts in Washington, London and Paris designed a new geopolitical blueprint that would contain Moscow and transformed the European continent simultaneously. It was understood that the pursuit of prosperity and security could not undermine the well being of others. In this reference, West Europe aligned itself in a new military command. It wasn't an easy Alliance and the lineup wasn't straightforward. But the American lead NATO limited the European nations from pursuing independent geopolitical objectives because it outsourced many of their security needs to the United States. Still in the large scheme of things for West Germany and other states, sacrificing sovereignty was the only way to coordinate a meaningful defense against the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, for the French, working within NATO was a way to keep a check on Germany. Besides the creation of a new alliance, the Marshall Plan aided the West Europeans to set up social welfare systems and reconstruct their economies at the same time. These programs were designed to reduce poverty, which at the time was believed to encourage the spread of communism. Thus to secure the continent and ensure peace, evenly distributed prosperity was a necessity. The key to this was to form a bond between the French and German economies, which is exactly what the European Coal and Steel Community achieved in 1952. This arrangement obviously, it requires the inclusion of other Western European nations as well, but it is the German French exchange that reinvented the political affairs of the continent. More precisely, the Coal and Steel Community combined West Germany's coal and steel industries which were a critical component of its military with those of France. The new institution fuse the economies of the two in such a manner that prosperity for one resulted in prosperity for the other .The geopolitical experiment integrated French and German interests with one another, and forged an interdependent relationship that serve the interests of both nations. Thus, to prosper policymakers from both sides were encouraged to make compromises and as new concessions were made tensions between the French and Germans reduced and the historical animosity was put to rest. In the decades following World War Two, the new military and economic institutions worked remarkably, the Soviets never invaded and there was no large scale military conflict in the continent. Moreover, the West European economies recovered rapidly, yet ironically, peace and prosperity had brought forth a new challenge. German industries and enterprises had grown so rapidly that the country's economic production outstripped its domestic consumption. In other words, the Germans needed others to purchase their goods and services. For France,This was an opportunity to manage West Germany's economic growth in such a way that it didn't threaten them. The result was an additional institution called the European Economic Community, which established a common market in Western Europe. By working from within the economic organization, France hoped to shape the political goals of West Germany without obstructing economic growth. The dynamic between France and Germany became more distinct after the fall of the USSR and Germany's reunification. Policymakers and Paris and Berlin enhance their relationship by embracing a common monetary policy. The French ceded fiscal power to the German central bank to get them aboard, and the plan eventually evolved into a single structure known as the European Union. However, the monetary policy of the EU had some unintended consequences.
Up until the adoption of the Euro the one measure that South European nations, such as Spain, Italy, and Greece had up their sleeves was to devalue with their national currencies in order to make their exports cheaper and thereby compete with German commodities. With the euro. However, this practice ended .As a result, most of the EU member states steadily failed to compete in free trade with the high quality goods and services from Germany. Meanwhile, the enormous single market of the European bloc enabled the fiercely competitive German brands to dominate the continental economy. The only way the south European economies could keep up with the Germans was by taking loans from Germany to boost their local industries. This was fine until they could no longer pay the Germans back, which is what happened after the financial crash of 2008. As governments had to dig deeper into their pockets, some were more affected by the crisis than others. As such, every state required a different resolution. Moreover, since each nation elected its own political leaders who remained in office as long as they met national demands, every government started to pursue conflicting national interests, because they drew their power not from the EU, but from their own countrymen. Simultaneously. nationalist parties bent on leaving the EU, rose to the political stage. It was essentially every man for himself. Ultimately, these unfortunate series of events fracture the unity of the block as a multilateral institution. The EU has evolved in such a way that many nations, including Germany and France have surrendered some of their sovereignty to the block. On the other hand, the union's interdependent mechanism prevents the kind of conflicts that have existed in the past. It is difficult to imagine how the Europeans will resolve their differences, since there will always be new issues that will test the unity of the block. Nevertheless, many Europeans remain hopeful of the European Union. And even though there is no guarantee that a block will continue to function as it has in the long term, the decision making process behind the long piece could serve as a road map for other volatile region.
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