Supranational processes bring states together in larger structures and identities. These processes generally lead to an ongoing struggle between nationalism and supranationalism.
International integration—the partial shifting of sovereignty from the state toward supranational institutions—is considered an outgrowth of international cooperation in functional (technical and economic) issue areas.
Integration theorists thought that functional cooperation would spill over into political integration in foreign policy and military issue areas. Instead, powerful forces of disintegration are tearing apart previously existing states in some regions, especially in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
The European Union (EU) is the most advanced case of integration. Its 27 member states have given considerable power to the EU in economic decision making, and 12 have adopted a common currency, the euro. However, national power still outweighs supranational power even in the EU.
Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952, the mission and membership of what is now the EU have expanded continually.
The most important and most successful element in the EU is its customs union (and the associated free trade area). Goods can cross borders of member states freely, and the members adopt unified tariffs with regard to goods entering from outside the EU.
Under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), subsidies to farmers are made uniform within the community. Carrying out the CAP consumes 40 percent of the EU's budget. EU agricultural subsidies are a major source of trade conflict with the United States.
In structure, the EU revolves around the permanent staff of Eurocrats under the European Commission. The Commission's president, individual members, and staff all serve Europe as a whole—a supranational role. However, the Council of Ministers representing member states (in national roles) has power over the Commission.
The European Parliament has members directly elected by citizens in EU states, but it has few powers and cannot legislate the rules for the community. The European Court of Justice also has limited powers, but has extended its jurisdiction more successfully than any other international court and can overrule national laws.
The Single European Act, or "Europe 1992," created a common market throughout the EU, with uniform standards, open borders, and freedom of goods, services, labor, and capital within the EU.
The 1991 Maastricht Treaty on closer European integration (monetary union and political-military coordination) provoked a public backlash in several countries. Some citizens began to resent the power of EU bureaucrats over national culture and daily life. The treaty was ratified despite these difficulties, however.
The EU has a new monetary union with a single European currency (the euro) in 12 of the 27 EU states. It is the biggest experiment with money in history and had great success in its first years. Such a union requires roughly comparable inflation rates and financial stability in participating states.
The EU admitted three new members in 1995—Austria, Finland, and Sweden—but the Norwegians and the Swiss voted not to join. Ten new members, mostly Eastern European, joined the EU in 2004. The EU's structures and procedures are being adapted as it moves from 15 to 27 members. The EU faces challenges in deciding how far to expand its membership, particularly regarding Turkey. To some extent, the broadening of membership conflicts with the deepening of ties among the existing members.
In addition to the EU and the associated European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a variety of overlapping groupings, formal and informal, reflect the process of integration in Europe.
A different type of international integration can be seen in the growing role of communication and information operating across national borders. Supranational relationships and identities are being fostered by new information technologies—especially mass media such as TV, radio, and the Internet—although such a process is still in an early stage.
The "digital divide" between the global North and the global South continues to grow as poorer nations struggle to afford new communications technologies.
Greater access to information increases government power, both domestically and internationally. Governments also use the dissemination of information across borders as a means of influencing other states. Thus information technologies can serve national and not just supranational purposes.
Government access to information increases the stability of international relationships. The security dilemma and other collective goods problems are made less difficult in a transparent world where governments have information about each others' actions.
The greater and freer flow of information around the world can undermine the authority and power of governments as well. It is now extremely difficult for authoritarian governments to limit the flow of information in and out of their states. Information technologies can empower ordinary citizens and contribute to transnational and supranational structures that bypass the state.
Transnational communities are developing in areas such as sports, music, and tourism. Such communities may foster supranational identities that could compete with the state for the loyalty of citizens someday.
Telecommunications are contributing to the development of global cultural integration. This process may hold the potential for the development of a single world culture. However, some politicians and citizens worry about cultural imperialism—that such a culture would be too strongly dominated by the United States.
