Forces of Fragmentation and Cohesion:

Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces

Centripetal Forces

• Promoting State Cohesion• Nationalism• Unifying Institutions • Organization and Administration• Transportation and Communication• Supranationalism

Centrifugal Forces

• Challenges to State Authority • Less Nationalism • Devolution, Regionalism • Peripheral Location• Social and Economic Inequality

Devolution –Movement of power from the central government to regional governments within the state.

What causes devolutionary movements?

Ex. Ethnocultural forcesEconomic forcesSpatial forces

Ethnocultural Devolutionary Movements

Eastern Europedevolutionary forces since the fall of communism

Ex. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia

Economic Devolutionary Movements

Catalonia, SpainBarcelona, located in Catalonia, is the center of banking and commerce in Spain and the region is much wealthier than the rest of Spain. It produces 25% of Spanish exports

and 40% of its industrial exports.

Spatial Devolutionary Movements

Honolulu, Hawai’iA history apart from the United States, and a desire to live apart in order to keep traditions alive.

Supranational Organizations

A separate entity composed of three or more states that forge an association and form an administrative structure for mutual benefit in pursuit of shared goals.

* How many supranational organizationsexist in the world today?

At least 60

United Nations• Background: League of Nations – 1919, idea of Woodrow Wilson but, due

to isolationist Americans, U.S. never joined. League collapsed prior to WWII (Italian invasion of Ethiopia). Prior to WWII, states created the Permanent Court of International Justice. After WWII, states formed the United Nations…

• Basics of the UN: – Cooperate with internationally approved standards– 193 members– Aid: refugees, poverty, troops in peacekeeping operations,

human rights

Global Scale – The United Nations

Regional Scale - Europe

• Benelux, 1944: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg• Marshall Plan, 1948-’52: US aid to Western European

Countries• Organization of European Economic Cooperation, 1952 (OEEC)

toEuropean Economic Community (EEC)

to European Community (EC)

to European Union, 1992 (EU)

Regional Scale - Europe

• European Union: domestic, military, and certain sovereign policies that govern all members – 12 European Community (EC) members

established the EU – 1992– Euro introduced in 2002– Problems facing the EU?• Bailouts to member countries• To include Turkey or not?

Original Members: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark and Ireland

Regional Scale – The European Union(27 Current Members)

Supranationalism Elsewhere…

• NAFTA, ACS, APEC, CIS…• Treaties to reduce tariffs and facilitate

trade• None like the European Union