Question
With the North Atlantic Treaty Organization coming under and
provides the largest military assets to the group), and the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, it seemed an apt time to talk about the supranational organizations of the world.
Supranational is defined as: outside or beyond the authority of one national government, as a project or Playing the Game
policy that is planned and controlled by a group of nations. It means a larger body that has power from several governments to make decisions for those governments.
These groups tend to start off with some economic or trade agreement, then eventually have a common Whose Team Are You On? – Supranational interest or goal. One of the earliest examples of a supranational organization is the Hanseatic League Organizations (~1200-1500 AD), a trade bloc in Northern Europe. German merchants worked across several towns around the Baltic and North Sea to build a protective group that would defend trade routes from pirates and robbers. on-supranational-organizations/)
In addition, they gained some monopolistic control over several key items and control the flow of trade. As The Largest Badge in the World time passed, merchants outside the Hanseatic League began looking to take part in the trades, the League‐ had to defend itself by imposing trade embargoes and using force if necessary. Eventually powerful European states rose and were able to overpower the League break their monopoly.
world/)
Regional supranational organizations can create such strong bonds that they eventually become a country, abiding by the same government. The Holy Roman Empire was a collection of hundreds of small and large land holdings, and today Germany encompasses the much of the same area the Empire once did. Also, the United States is just that, a group of states (or colonies) that came together to follow the rules of an overarching (or federal) government. Both of these countries are among the most successful ones today and have had important roles since their creation.The first widespread and successful (more on that later) attempt at a global organization is the League of Nations. Following the horror of World War I, there was a desire to have a global body that would prevent war. If you know much about history you know the League basically failed this mission
and the largest war in history occurred 20 years later. Some of the reasons for their failure were a lack of members (the US never joined), lack of power and authority, and the fact that they had to make unanimous decisions. Even if they ever made a decision to tell a nations what to do they had almost no way to enforce their rulings.
World War II changed the scope the of supranational organizations with an effect that continues to the present day. It had such widespread destruction that many countries realized that there could actually be value in working tougher to keep the peace.
The largest of the supranationals is the United Nations. It was created after World War II and still exists and functions today. It has a military force, the Peacekeepers, and almost global membership (the US did join and is basically the most powerful member, see earlier post While it has had mixed results in preventing localized conflicts, it has done lots of beneficial humanitarian work throughout the world and set standards for basic human rights.
Another post-World War II group was the European Coal and Steel Community (two important materials needed during a war), it included France, Germany, and Italy and eventually grew to the modern-day European Union. It has been remarkably successful in preserving the peace in a continent that saw 278 wars between 1480 and 1940. The Eurozone is one of the largest economies in the world and has open borders (within the Schengen zone) with almost no tariffs. Individual countries, such as Greece, would be bankrupt without the EU’s protection and resources.Though the United Nations had some military influence in the Korean War and in other, smaller conflict, the major military-political supranational groups after World War II were the Western-capitalist NATO (1949) and the Soviet-communist Warsaw Pact (1955). These had strong military intentions under the idea of common defense. As perCollective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies”, with the Warsaw Pact operating under a similar principle. The alliances seemed to work for the duration of the Cold War, as evidenced by the fact that we don’t all wear fallout suits, neither side directly fought with the other. In fact the only time that Article 5 of NATO was invoked was after the September 11 terror attacks th
But alliances and common defense either lead to a peaceful stand-off (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) or full- scale war (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, Axis and Allies). Though during the Cold War, this may have been due to the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) theory and prevalence of nuclear weapons.
Page 3 of 5
If supranational organizations can provide benefit in a common set of rules, increased trade, and increased protection why is there so much resistance at the moment? The issue tends to come down to who has control and who has to compromise. In a group like NATO the US dominates and knows it generally has the support of other countries, but the US also has to pull the most weight. In groups where the power is evenly split in terms of votes, it becomes very difficult to do anything. For example, the UN Security Council has France, the UK, Russia, China, and the US as permanent members with veto powers. Obviously they are not going to allow any resolutions that would have a negative impact on their respective countries. But without that power, they may not have joined and the UN would not exist. In the European Union it is exceedingly difficult to pass anything, as it has to be done unanimously. For example, a Canada-EU trade deal was nearly halted by the Belgian region of Wallonia. And paying for any of these groups will always be a contentious issue.
Believe it or not, governments do not like to give up power. By becoming a member of a supranational organization, they have to answer to a higher group. There is a new layer of bureaucracy and decision- making that is added which slows down every governmental process. It is difficult to determine if any particular organization will be of benefit or detriment in the long-run, but in the short-run a country can get what it wants much faster without going through the additional red tape.
So there is a trade off between being a very controlling member of an organizations and having to contribute lots of resources and being more equal and having everything be more inefficient and take longer*. As the US and countries around the world debate the merits of supranational organizations, it will become very important to think about what we stand to gain by staying a member, and what opportunities may lie ahead if we go it alone.
*-Note that this statement applies to almost any group you are a part of, not just international geopolitical groups.
1. In 3-4 sentences, sumarize the information you read in the article.
2. In your own words, what is a SUPRANATIONAL ORGNIZATION
3. Explain why supranational organizations tend to have opposition.
provides the largest military assets to the group), and the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, it seemed an apt time to talk about the supranational organizations of the world.
Supranational is defined as: outside or beyond the authority of one national government, as a project or Playing the Game
policy that is planned and controlled by a group of nations. It means a larger body that has power from several governments to make decisions for those governments.
These groups tend to start off with some economic or trade agreement, then eventually have a common Whose Team Are You On? – Supranational interest or goal. One of the earliest examples of a supranational organization is the Hanseatic League Organizations (~1200-1500 AD), a trade bloc in Northern Europe. German merchants worked across several towns around the Baltic and North Sea to build a protective group that would defend trade routes from pirates and robbers. on-supranational-organizations/)
In addition, they gained some monopolistic control over several key items and control the flow of trade. As The Largest Badge in the World time passed, merchants outside the Hanseatic League began looking to take part in the trades, the League‐ had to defend itself by imposing trade embargoes and using force if necessary. Eventually powerful European states rose and were able to overpower the League break their monopoly.
world/)
Regional supranational organizations can create such strong bonds that they eventually become a country, abiding by the same government. The Holy Roman Empire was a collection of hundreds of small and large land holdings, and today Germany encompasses the much of the same area the Empire once did. Also, the United States is just that, a group of states (or colonies) that came together to follow the rules of an overarching (or federal) government. Both of these countries are among the most successful ones today and have had important roles since their creation.The first widespread and successful (more on that later) attempt at a global organization is the League of Nations. Following the horror of World War I, there was a desire to have a global body that would prevent war. If you know much about history you know the League basically failed this mission
and the largest war in history occurred 20 years later. Some of the reasons for their failure were a lack of members (the US never joined), lack of power and authority, and the fact that they had to make unanimous decisions. Even if they ever made a decision to tell a nations what to do they had almost no way to enforce their rulings.
World War II changed the scope the of supranational organizations with an effect that continues to the present day. It had such widespread destruction that many countries realized that there could actually be value in working tougher to keep the peace.
The largest of the supranationals is the United Nations. It was created after World War II and still exists and functions today. It has a military force, the Peacekeepers, and almost global membership (the US did join and is basically the most powerful member, see earlier post While it has had mixed results in preventing localized conflicts, it has done lots of beneficial humanitarian work throughout the world and set standards for basic human rights.
Another post-World War II group was the European Coal and Steel Community (two important materials needed during a war), it included France, Germany, and Italy and eventually grew to the modern-day European Union. It has been remarkably successful in preserving the peace in a continent that saw 278 wars between 1480 and 1940. The Eurozone is one of the largest economies in the world and has open borders (within the Schengen zone) with almost no tariffs. Individual countries, such as Greece, would be bankrupt without the EU’s protection and resources.Though the United Nations had some military influence in the Korean War and in other, smaller conflict, the major military-political supranational groups after World War II were the Western-capitalist NATO (1949) and the Soviet-communist Warsaw Pact (1955). These had strong military intentions under the idea of common defense. As perCollective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies”, with the Warsaw Pact operating under a similar principle. The alliances seemed to work for the duration of the Cold War, as evidenced by the fact that we don’t all wear fallout suits, neither side directly fought with the other. In fact the only time that Article 5 of NATO was invoked was after the September 11 terror attacks th
But alliances and common defense either lead to a peaceful stand-off (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) or full- scale war (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, Axis and Allies). Though during the Cold War, this may have been due to the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) theory and prevalence of nuclear weapons.
Page 3 of 5
If supranational organizations can provide benefit in a common set of rules, increased trade, and increased protection why is there so much resistance at the moment? The issue tends to come down to who has control and who has to compromise. In a group like NATO the US dominates and knows it generally has the support of other countries, but the US also has to pull the most weight. In groups where the power is evenly split in terms of votes, it becomes very difficult to do anything. For example, the UN Security Council has France, the UK, Russia, China, and the US as permanent members with veto powers. Obviously they are not going to allow any resolutions that would have a negative impact on their respective countries. But without that power, they may not have joined and the UN would not exist. In the European Union it is exceedingly difficult to pass anything, as it has to be done unanimously. For example, a Canada-EU trade deal was nearly halted by the Belgian region of Wallonia. And paying for any of these groups will always be a contentious issue.
Believe it or not, governments do not like to give up power. By becoming a member of a supranational organization, they have to answer to a higher group. There is a new layer of bureaucracy and decision- making that is added which slows down every governmental process. It is difficult to determine if any particular organization will be of benefit or detriment in the long-run, but in the short-run a country can get what it wants much faster without going through the additional red tape.
So there is a trade off between being a very controlling member of an organizations and having to contribute lots of resources and being more equal and having everything be more inefficient and take longer*. As the US and countries around the world debate the merits of supranational organizations, it will become very important to think about what we stand to gain by staying a member, and what opportunities may lie ahead if we go it alone.
*-Note that this statement applies to almost any group you are a part of, not just international geopolitical groups.
1. In 3-4 sentences, sumarize the information you read in the article.
2. In your own words, what is a SUPRANATIONAL ORGNIZATION
3. Explain why supranational organizations tend to have opposition.
Answers
GPT 3.5
1. The article discusses the concept of supranational organizations, which are larger bodies that have power from multiple governments to make decisions. It provides examples of historical supranational organizations like the Hanseatic League and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as more contemporary ones like the United Nations and the European Union. The article also highlights the benefits and drawbacks of belonging to supranational organizations, including increased trade, protection, common rules, and the need to compromise and give up some control.
2. A supranational organization is a larger entity that has power and authority over multiple governments. It is outside or beyond the authority of any one national government, and its decisions affect the member governments.
3. Supranational organizations tend to face opposition because member governments may be reluctant to give up their sovereignty and control to a higher authority. They may feel that their national interests are being compromised or overshadowed by the decisions made by the supranational organization. Additionally, disagreements and difficulties in reaching unanimous decisions within the organization can lead to opposition and resistance.
2. A supranational organization is a larger entity that has power and authority over multiple governments. It is outside or beyond the authority of any one national government, and its decisions affect the member governments.
3. Supranational organizations tend to face opposition because member governments may be reluctant to give up their sovereignty and control to a higher authority. They may feel that their national interests are being compromised or overshadowed by the decisions made by the supranational organization. Additionally, disagreements and difficulties in reaching unanimous decisions within the organization can lead to opposition and resistance.