- Comecon
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
- 1949 -1991
- by the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Albania (1949), GDR (1950), Mongolian People’s Republic (1962), Yugoslavia (1964 - agreement: trade, finance, currency & industry), Cuba (1972), Vietnam (1978).
Facilitate and coordinate the economic development of the eastern European countries belonging to the Soviet bloc
Problems: price incompatibility (prices were set by governments, and had little to do with the actual market values, thus making it difficult for the MS to conduct trade with each other);
Successes:
- organization of Eastern Europe’s railroad grid and of its electric-power grid;
- the creation of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (1963) to finance investment projects jointly undertaken by two or more members;
- the construction of the “Friendship” oil pipeline, which made oil from the Soviet Union’s Volga region available to the countries of Eastern Europe.
In 1991, Comecon was renamed the Organization for International Economic Cooperation
- Iron Curtain
- 1946 - 1990
- Ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after WWII to seal off itself and its dependent Eastern and Central European Allies from open contact with the West and other non-communist areas.
- It came to prominence only after it was used by former British prime minister Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, U.S., on March 5, 1946, when he said of the communist states, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”
Tito & 1948
The Yugoslavs, led by Josip Broz (Tito), at first went along and rejected the Marshall Plan. However, in 1948 Tito broke decisively with Stalin on other issues, making Yugoslavia an independent communist state.
Yugoslavia requested American aid. American leaders were internally divided, but finally agreed and began sending money on a small scale in 1949, and on a much larger scale in 1950–53. The American aid was not part of the Marshall Plan.
- Warsaw Pact
formally Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance
- 1955 - 1991
- The treaty (which was renewed on April 26, 1985) provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units on the territories of the other participating states.
- The Warsaw Pact was, however, the first step in a more systematic plan to strengthen the Soviet hold over its satellites, a program undertaken by the Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin after their assumption of power early in 1955.
- The Warsaw Pact, particularly its provision for the garrisoning of Soviet troops in satellite territory, became a target of nationalist hostility in Poland and Hungary during the uprisings in those two countries in 1956
- The decades-long confrontation between eastern and western Europe was formally rejected by members of the Warsaw Pact, all of which, with the exception of the Soviet successor state of Russia, subsequently joined NATO.
Prague Spring
- 1968
- brief period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia (1948, under Soviet control)
- “Socialism with a Human Face”
- Soon after he became first secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party on January 5, 1968, Dubček granted the press greater freedom of expression; he also rehabilitated victims of political purges during the Joseph Stalin era, curbed the role of political police, recognized Israel as a country, recognizes the legitimacy of trade unions, open borders to the West,
- The Brezhnev Doctrine
- He also assured Soviets that Czechoslovakia will remain faithful to the Warsaw Pact.
- invasion by the “Warsaw Five” (USSR, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and DRG) (not by Romania and Albania)
- National civilian resistance (road signs, renaming villages)
- More than 300,000 people emigrated
- Protests in the Soviet Bloc (Romania, Albania, Moscow)
- Cold War
- The period is generally considered spanning the 1947 Truman Doctrine (12 March 1947) to the 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union (26 December 1991)
- The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, which began following World War II
- The term Cold War is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars.
- The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945
- Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events and technological competitions such as the Space Race
- Strategy: containment.
- Space exploration
- The Empty Chair Crisis (1965-1966)
- The Prague Spring (1968)
- The Warsaw Pact
- The Vietnam War (1959 - 1975)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
- The Six Day War (5-10 June 1967)
The Close of the Cold War:
- Pres. Richard Nixon began to implement a new approach on international relations. Instead of viewing the world as a “bi-polar” place, he suggested, why not use diplomacy instead of military action to create more poles? To that end, he encouraged the UN to recognize the communist Chinese government and, after a trip there in 1972, began to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.
- In 1972, Pres. Richard Nixon adopted the policy of “détente”, “relaxation” towards USSR.
- Pres. Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev (1964 - 1982) signed THE SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) which prohibited the manufacture of nuclear missiles by both sides.
Ronald Reagan: Regan Doctrine (worked to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments)
The Soviet Union was disintegrating. In response to severe economic problems and growing political ferment in the USSR, Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-) took office in 1985 and introduced two policies that redefined Russia’s relationship to the rest of the world: “glasnost,” or political openness, and “perestroika,” or economic reform.
1989 - The Berlin Wall was destroyed just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
1991 - USSR - had fallen apart
- Truman Doctrine
- It was announced to Congress by Pres. Harry S. Truman (1945 - 1953), and further developed in 1948, when he pledged to contain the communist uprisings in Greece and Turkey (in 1952, both Greece and Turkey joined NATO, a military alliance, to guarantee their stability.)
- The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations thought to be threatened by Soviet communism.
- Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that still exists. Historians often use Truman’s speech to date the start of the Cold War.
- The Truman Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world.
George F. Kennan - “The Long Telegram” (containment).
- Great Depression
- 1929
- The Great Depression started in the United States after a major fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, which was known as Black Tuesday.
- Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession.
- The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor countries.
- Declines in consumer demand, financial panics, and misguided government policies caused economic output to fall in the United States, while the gold standard, which linked nearly all the countries of the world in a network of fixed currency exchange rates, played a key role in transmitting the American downturn to other countries.
- Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade fell by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 23% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry.
- Economic historians usually consider the catalyst of the Great Depression to be the sudden devastating collapse of U.S. stock market prices, starting on October 24, 1929. However, some dispute this conclusion and see the stock crash as a symptom, rather than a cause, of the Great Depression
- The New Deal
- 1933–39
- The United States was in the throes of the Great Depression. Banks were in crisis, and nearly a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Wages and salaries declined significantly, as did production. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933–39) aimed to provide immediate economic relief and to bring about reforms to stabilize the economy.
- Opposed to the traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire, the New Deal generally embraced the concept of a government-regulated economy aimed at achieving a balance between conflicting economic interests.
- Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt’s presidency (March 9–June 16, 1933), which became known as the Hundred Days.
- Bank Holiday (1933), Alphabet Soup
FDR: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The programs of the New Deal, then, fell into three principal categories—relief, recovery, and reform—though several programs provided both relief and recovery. New Deal recovery programs were intended to help stabilize and rebuild the economy, especially its nonbanking sectors. Among other objectives, they sought to increase agricultural prices by holding down supply, to help people remain in their homes, and to foster long-term employment. New Deal reform programs involved legislation that was intended to guard against an economic disaster like the Great Depression ever recurring. In particular, they targeted banking, the stock market, labour, and labour unions.
- Berlin Wall
- 1961 - 1989
- The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the Cold War’s division of East from West Germany and of eastern from Western Europe.
- barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany during the period from 1961 to 1989. In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including steadily rising numbers of skilled workers,
professionals, and intellectuals. - Their loss threatened to destroy the economic viability of the East German state. In response, East Germany built a barrier to close off East Germans’ access to West Berlin and hence West Germany. That barrier, the Berlin Wall, was first erected on the night of August 12–13, 1961, as the result of a decree passed on August 12 by the East German Volkskammer (“Peoples’ Chamber”).
The original wall, built of barbed wire and cinder blocks, was subsequently replaced by a series of concrete walls (up to 15 feet [5 metres] high) that were topped with barbed wire and guarded with watchtowers, gun emplacements, and mines. By the 1980s that system of walls, electrified fences, and fortifications extended 28 miles (45 km) through Berlin, dividing the two parts of the city, and extended a further 75 miles (120 km) around West Berlin, separating it from the rest of East Germany.
- Willy Brandt (mayor of Federal Republic of Germany), opposed to it.
1989 - The Berlin Wall was destroyed just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
1991 - USSR - had fallen apart
- Berlin Blockade
- 1948–49
- international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union, in 1948–49, to force the Western Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) to abandon their post-World War II jurisdictions in West Berlin.
- In March 1948 the Allied powers decided to unite their different occupation zones of Germany into a single economic unit. In protest, the Soviet representative withdrew from the Allied Control Council.
- Coincident with the introduction of a new Deutsche Mark in West Berlin (as throughout West Germany), which the Soviets regarded as a violation of agreements with the Allies, the Soviet occupation forces in Eastern Germany began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between Berlin and the West.
- Despite dire shortages of fuel and electricity, the airlift kept life going in West Berlin for 11 months, until on May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade. The airlift continued until September 30, at a total cost of $224 million and after delivery of 2,323,738 tons of food, fuel, machinery, and other supplies.
- The end to the blockade was brought about because of countermeasures imposed by the Allies on East German communications and, above all, because of the Western embargo placed on all strategic exports from the Eastern bloc.
- As a result of the blockade and airlift, Berlin became a symbol of the Allies’ willingness to oppose further Soviet expansion in Europe.
- Monroe Doctrine
- 1823
- foreign policy
- European nations should stay out of the territories of N & S America
(1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers;
(2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere;
(3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States. - it failed:)
- Customs union
A customs union comprises a group of countries that agree to:
- Abolish tariffs and quotas between member nations to encourage free movement of goods and services
- Adopt a common external tariff (CET) on imports from non-members countries. In case of the EU, the tariff imposed on, say, imports from South Korean TV screens will be the same in the UK as in any other EU country.
Preferential tariff rates apply to preferential or free trade agreements that the EU has entered into with 3rd countries or groupings of 3rd countries.
Customs union vs Single Market
- Single Market: deeper form of integration. Free movement of goods and services, capital and labour. Economic policy harmonization in the areas of health and safety legislation and monopoly & competition.
- Customs Union: shares the tax revenue from the CET
i. e. Norway: part of European Economic Area (EEA), which gives it access to EU single market, but it is not in the EU’s customs union.
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - customs union, Members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) - free trade area for Mexico, Canada, and the United States
A trade agreement by which a group of countries charges a common set of tariffs to the rest of the world while granting free trade among themselves. It is a partial form of economic integration that offers an intermediate step between free-trade zones (which allow mutual free trade but lack a common tariff system) and common markets (which, in addition to the common tariffs, also allow free movement of resources such as capital and labour between member countries). A free-trade zone with common tariffs is a customs union.
- Intergovernmentalism
- both a theory of integration and a method of decision-making in international organizations, Intergovernmentalism treats states (and national governments in particular) as the primary actors in the integration process.
- Allows states to cooperate in specific fields while retaining their sovereignty.
EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.
- In intergovernmental organizations, states do not share the power with other actors, and take decisions by unanimity (The Council of Ministers aka Council of the European Union)
Intergovernmentalism represents a way for limiting the conferral of powers upon supranational institutions, halting the emergence of common policies.
Virtually all other integration initiatives, including those among developing countries, are almost fully intergovernmental.
Institutions of the EU
Institutions of the EU include
the European Commission,
the Council of the European Union, the European Council,
the Court of Justice of the European Union,
the European Central Bank,
the Court of Auditors,
the European Parliament.
The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens. The EU’s de facto capital is Brussels.
- Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
- Treaty on European Union (TEU), 1993.
- The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organized, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions.
- Decisions require unanimity among member states in the Council of the European Union, but once agreed, certain aspects can be further decided by qualified majority voting. Foreign policy is chaired and represented by the EU’s High Representative, currently Josep Borrell.
- It sees the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as responsible for the territorial defence of Europe and reconciliation. However, since 1999, the European Union is responsible for implementing missions such as peacekeeping and policing of treaties. A phrase often used to describe the relationship between the EU forces and NATO is “separable, but not separate”
- Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. Permanent diplomatic missions have been established around the world. The EU is represented at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8 and the G-20
- Supranationalism
- Supranationalism refers to a large amount of power given to an authority which in theory is placed higher than the state
- Supranational bodies: authority is formally delegated.
- To put it simply, after a vote, the majority result wins and all member states have to implement the decisions that have been made.
- On the other hand, this mechanism is pondered by some regulations applying intergovernmentalism in some fields such as: taxation, the accession of new states, and the common foreign and security policy. When it comes to those areas, unanimity is required and no one decision can be forced upon a state.
- the Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice, represent the supranational mode of decision-making.
In order to make a partition between supranationalism and intergovernmentalism, the Treaty of Maastricht, signed in 1992, introduced the principle of subsidiarity.
- Subsidiarity
- Treaty of Maastricht (Treaty of European Union), signed in 1992, introduced the principle of subsidiarity (Article 5).
- This principle states that the EU can only take actions when it is most relevant for it to do so.
Thus, each time when discussing a new regulation the EU must prove that this decision would be more effective if taken at the EU-level than at a national level (and by doing so, the EU dismisses any claim that it would take decisions for instance only for the UK, France or Italy).
Specifically, it is the principle whereby the EU does not take action (except in the areas that fall within its exclusive competence), unless it is more effective than action taken at national, regional or local level.
It is closely linked to the principle of proportionality, which requires that any action by the EU should not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the aims of the Treaties.
Élysée Treaty
- 1963
The treaty stipulated that German and French government representatives should meet and speak with other at regular intervals. In addition, all major decisions concerning security and defense policy were to be coordinated; Article II of the treaty stated that “the two governments will consult each other, prior to any decision, on all important questions of foreign policy…”. This condition applied especially to any issues that had to do with the European Community, NATO and relations between Eastern and Western Europe.
- In addition, Adenauer and de Gaulle also pledged a close cooperation in the areas of culture and youth policy, with language exchange and learning to be encouraged. This decision resulted in the founding of the Franco-German Youth Office in the summer of 1993.
- acquis communautaire
Acquis communautaire is a French term referring to the cumulative body of European Community laws, comprising the EC’s objectives, substantive rules, policies and, in particular, the primary and secondary legislation and case law – all of which form part of the legal order of the European Union (EU). This includes all the treaties, regulations and directives passed by the European institutions, as well as judgements laid down by the European Court of Justice. The acquis is dynamic, constantly developing as the Community evolves, and fundamental. All Member States are bound to comply with the acquis communautaire.
The term is most often used in connection with preparations by candidate countries to join the Union. They must adopt, implement and enforce all the acquis to be allowed to join the EU. As well as changing national laws, this often means setting up or changing the necessary administrative or judicial bodies which oversee the legislation
That part of the acquis communautaire, which is concerned with regulation of employment and industrial relations, constitutes the foundation for Europeanisation of employment and industrial relations in the Member States of the EU, and the basis for a European system of employment and industrial relations
- Co-decision
The co-decision procedure is a legislative process introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht (Treaty on European Union) 1991 and now enshrined in Article 294 TFEU. In the co-decision procedure, the European Parliament and the Council jointly adopt (i.e. co-decide) legislation. The Parliament now shares legislative authority with the Council. Co-decision requires consensus to be reached between the Council and the Parliament for legislation to be adopted.
The co-decision procedure has been applied to most Directives adopted since the Maastricht Treaty and has given Parliament a much greater role and influence in the formulation of EU legislation in the field of employment and industrial relations.
Where the Council and Parliament cannot agree on proposed legislation, a compromise is sought through the establishment of a ‘Conciliation Committee’.
If agreement cannot be reached, the proposed legislation ‘shall be deemed not to have been adopted’. Effectively, the Parliament has a veto power: it is able, by absolute majority vote, to block a proposed legislative measure. The Parliament remains powerless, however, to enact legislation by itself.
The outcome is that the EU institutional framework resembles a dual legislative system, albeit with certain important specific qualities:
- the Council reflects national interests; Parliament is divided along party political lines;
- decisions in the Council may require unanimity, whereas in Parliament a majority will suffice;
- Parliament can veto but cannot initiate or enact legislation by itself. In practice, Parliament can exercise greater influence over EU legislation, through the process whereby it scrutinises legislative proposals more closely, is able to propose amendments, and may exercise a veto.
The co-decision procedure, when combined with qualified majority voting in the Council, is the formula most likely to produce Union legislative action in the field of employment and industrial relations
In practice, the co-decision procedure affects not only the dynamics of the legislative process, but also has a potential effect on the European social dialogue. Coupled with qualified majority voting, the co-decision procedure makes it easier for the Parliament to promote or block legislation. This may provide an indirect incentive to the social partners to negotiate and conclude agreements in the social dialogue.
- Cohesion policy
EU Cohesion Policy contributes to strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion in the European Union. It aims to correct imbalances between countries and regions. It delivers on the Union’s political priorities, especially the green and digital transition.
Cohesion Policy is a development policy aiming at improving the conditions for sustainable growth and jobs, well-being, and quality of the environment in the EU regions and at strengthening the integration of regional economies.
Enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Art. 174), the EU’s cohesion policy aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion by reducing disparities in the level of development between regions. The policy focuses on key areas which will help the EU face up to the challenges of the 21st century and remain globally competitive.
Approximately 32.5 % of the EU budget 2014-2020 (equivalent to ca. EUR 351.8 billion over seven years at 2014 prices) is allocated to financial instruments which support cohesion policy. These are managed and delivered in partnership between the European Commission, the Member States and stakeholders at the local and regional level.
Funds transport and environment projects in countries where the gross national income (GNI) per inhabitant is less than 90% of the EU average. In 2014-20, these are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- Eurozone
The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem.
Eight members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them will be obliged to adopt the euro in the future.
The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other EU states (except for Denmark) are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so.
Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins.[10][11][12] Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro unilaterally,[13] but these countries do not officially form part of the eurozone and do not have representation in the European Central Bank (ECB) or in the Eurogroup.
- Opt-out
Certain EU Member States have what are known as opt-outs, which are a means of ensuring that when a given Member State does not want to take part in a particular field of EU policy, it can opt out, thus avoiding an overall stalemate.
Examples of opt-outs include:
- Schengen Agreement: Ireland;
economic and monetary union: Denmark; - defence: Denmark;
- EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Poland;
- area of freedom, security and justice: Denmark and Ireland (the latter may opt into given initiatives if it wishes).
