European Union Peril or Panacea?
JoAnn Perreira
Ashford University
HIS 306: Twentieth-Century Europe
Professor Hope Umansky
August 23, 2010
European Union Peril or Panacea
In every continent, there are different unions and organizations that bring together selected nations, based on regions under the same “management umbrella”. The main function of these unions/organizations is to help the member nations to undertake various social, political and economic activities. In addition to that, it is also important that most of these organizations greatly help in humanitarian activities in the member states. For instance in Africa there are unions like Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), South African Development Community (SADAC), East Africa Corporation (EAC) and African Union (AU) among others; however despite the fact that these organizations cover different geographical regions, they all fall under the African Union (AU) body.
The purpose of this research paper will not to focus on African organization but rather in one of the main organizations in Europe, the European Union. The main aim of the paper will be to discuss as to whether the European Union abbreviated as EU is a Peril or Panacea to its members. The paper will provide a description of the historical context of the growth and development of the European Union from the time it was formed up to date, it will provide an assessment of how the activities of the European Union have evolved over time; under this the paper will give the advantages of the European Union and the contributions it has made in the recent past, the limitations of the European Union will also be discussed in the paper. Finally the paper will provide a prediction of the future of the European Union based on the previous analysis and its activities. Apart from the above mentioned points, the paper will mention some of the well established nations that...