| THE FUTURE OF THE TRANSATLANTIC UNION |
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| Author: | Peter H. Mettler |  |
| Rights sold: | English, German | |
| Genre: | Science | |
| Number of pages: | 145 | |
| Edition: | 1 | |
| Editor: | ||
| Series: | ||
| ISBN: | 3-88476-558-2 | |
| ISSN: | 1430-9440 | |
| Publishing company: | WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier | |
| The year of publishing: | 2002 | |
| Origin Country: | Germany | |
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BASIC ASSUMPTIONS a. TAU would bring at least NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association, though enlarged by many Latin American countries) and the EU (i.e. the enlarged European Union, i.e. ≈50 member states, potentially from the Cape of Africa to Vladivostok) closer together. Maximally, all countries considering themselves “Occidental“ could be part of it, and, nota bene, all other countries who want to be part, like e.g. countries around the Mediterranean, African states, follow-up states of the former Soviet Union, Latin American states, etc.; b. TAU is not competing for hegemony (but will certainly be economically competitive) with other areas or world players of the globe like China or India. But it would offer peaceful coexistence and intense cooperation and co-ordination; c. TAU has inherent logics going for it, like common history (e.g. NATO) and common values, or longstanding intensive economic (as illustrated with the TABD example at the beginning), scientific and research collaboration, etc.. And it is timely. But it will by far not be sufficient to try to just prolong the cooperation during the Duopole times (or the East-West confrontation). New tasks/goals will have to be found and developed as well as differences smoothened like those between European and US notions of civil society. Theoretically, we have to look at TAU from in-side, i.e. the Atlantic, the potential member states and the bordering countries; as well as from out-side, i.e. from areas west and east of TAU´s western and eastern borders, i.e. from the Pacific as well as from Central Asia, the Muslim World and Africa. As far as the in-side view is concerned, we have to divide into: - a view on itself; - views from the in-side at the out-side, or: what does the Occident expect the other world-players to do, to pursue? The following will elaborate on a potential “view on itself”: Constitution: In the Occidental tradition, talking on a possible future TAU immediately necessitates talks about a TAU-constitution, which, in turn, raises the question: How could such a constitution be developed, if not out of the US and the EU constitutions? Which, again and automatically, creates questions like: “What is the constitution of NAFTA, and in particular, if NAFTA shouldn’t be enlarged by further Latin-American countries?“ and: “Will there be an EU constitution and when and how could it come about?”: In the Occidental tradition, talking on a possible future TAU immediately necessitates talks about a TAU-constitution, which, in turn, raises the question: How could such a constitution be developed, if not out of the US and the EU constitutions? Being European, I do not want to comment on the sum total of all the Americas. But as far as Europe is concerned, I would put forward the following thoughts: Any European constitution would have to be of a federal character and every member-state‘s rights and obligations have to be clearly stated. The constitutions‘ most important task would have to be to protect every EUcitizen (every individual) against unmotivated actions by authorities (from the local/regional through to the European level and, no matter, if state or private). Of course, every such constitution would include a list of basic rights, finally inciting the Luxembourgian European Court to secure, above all, liberty and property of each European citizen, instead of securing, as it does today, that the rules of the liberal market are respected. The European constitution would also have the goal to be able the European equivalent to the US constitution. Both would thus be the basic for a TAU constitution and it would further bring Europeans closer together, as did NATO in cold-war times under US leadership. Dominique Moisi, deputy director of the French Institute for International Relations, recently remarked: “ ... the democratic allies compete ever more aggressively with each other economically ... Europeans must be convinced that creating a European identity is essential in facing the challenges of today, such as nuclear proliferation and mass migration, and to prevent the return of the explosive nationalism that led to war in the past“. Security issues: - Could OSCE be stimulated to be more effective and/ or enlarged? - How and where should NATO expand its realm? - Potential conflicts in Out-of NATO area and NATO‘s reaction (e.g. a war between India and China)? - Inner security issues like drug criminality, Eastern criminal “families“ swamp the West, etc. Creativity: are we witnessing the beginning of an “Occidentosis“ (occidental sclerosis)? Could an Atlantic Learning Community be a remedy? Could TAU catalyse a new science and technology boom (e.g. in “Converging technologies”?)? Economy: Most talks have been in this area. Or: Could a Transatlantic Free Trade Association (TAFTA), an “economic NATO“ be a remedy against the constant trade battles between the two? Do we need more common standards, more regulations of “destructive competition“ in third markets or of the currency exchange fluctuations? Or would an Economic Council be the solution to tear down hindrances in trade and economic co-operation? etc. (NAFTA-EU trade amounts annually to more than 360 bill. Euro and the two are, mutually to each other, the biggest investors). Presently, amongst the issues which are creating tensions between EU and NAFTA, are, inter alia, the following: • Helms-Burton and d‘Amato laws and the question, if the US-extra territorial laws are against international law? • How to fight criminality (in particular: drug-dealers and drug-money-laundry)? • Policy towards immigrants and people (refugees) seeking asylum; • Policy in view of genetically manipulated materials; • Follow-up policies to the Rio-conference; etc.. And the following issues demand common stands as well: • Policies in view of areas like Eastern Europe and Russia, the Balkan area, Cyprus, the Near East, Tibet and China; • Policies towards the Muslim world, Muslim fanatics and oil questions; • How to handle “globalisation“? How could these topics be researched? A first step would be to form a research community out of the widely scattered individual researchers through an initial conference of some 50 people. Then a research team, a more specialized network (including e.g. the Millennium Project) and a three year research project would have to be established. The network activities would result in six “Year 2040-Scenario“, whilst the research team would construct one single scenario “Transatlantic Union 2070“ (but very rich in very many details). The final result will hopefully be the design of a new cultural mission of the Occident to the world. -This design would be published and circulated widely (also be predesign of a new cultural mission of the Occident to the world. -This design would be published and circulated widely (also be presented at such meetings as the annual meetings of the World Future Society or the bi-annual “World Conferences“ of the World Futures Studies Federation, of the Club of Rome, of UNESCO, etc.) and a final big conference with comprehensive world-wide TV coverage would introduce the topic and the proposed mission into the world-wide public debate. Ideas, what such a mission could be In as far will the knowledge society influence the development of TAU? TAU could have as its goal to develop itself into the first real and fully developed knowledge society; TAU could develop into the first society beyond the nation state, the first true multicultural society; TAU could develop into the first real modern society with individual life-spans of around 150 years and deliberate down-scaling of the population in order to regain sustainability on the basis of a very high technical level; TAU could develop into the first real world-society without necessity (e.g. in view of raw materials) to keep up ties with other world-societies (fully recycling economy). Instead, the ties would be of a totally different nature (e.g. as described in the book mentioned in footnote 5); TAU could develop into the first society in which the highest level sustenance of all citizens is guaranteed by automation and the legally guaranteed distribution system -the end of the „inward oriented“ capitalism; TAU could develop into the first micro-genetic society; TAU could develop into the first space-oriented society; Languages regain its true status as „culture“, since automated translations of every-day language reduces the importance of languages as a barrier between nations and/or cultures; etc.. Literature Belén Balanyá, Ann Doherty, Olivier Hoedeman, Adam Ma’anit, Erik Wesselius and all of the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), Europe Inc., Regional and Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power, Pluto Press, Brussels, 2000 Zbigniew Brzezinski, “The big chessboard -The US and the rest of the World“, 1997 European Commission, Forward Studies Unit, Toward a more coherent global economic order, Brussels, 1998 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (daily German newspaper), issue Nov. 9, 1998: Amerika droht Europa mit neuem Handelskrieg (the US threatens Europe with a new trade war) Francis Fukuyama, The End of History Global Governance, A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, L. Rienner Publ., in cooparation with ACUNS and the UNU, Boulder, Col. Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996 International Social Science Journal no. 155: On Governance, Blackwell Publications., UNESCO, March 1998 Peter H. Mettler, Partization als Entscheidungshilfe, Westdeutscher Verlag (Publisher), Wiesbaden, 1997 (Participation as aid for decisionmaking) idem and Werner Kremp, Chancen einer Transatlantischen Union? (Chances of a Transatlantic Union?), Atlantics Texts No. 17, Atlantic Academy, Kaiserslautern, 2002, 145 pages idem, The Dialectic Between Object/Problem and Appropriate/Available Research Method, in “The First Prague Workshop on Futures Studies Methodology”, CESES Papers No. 11, 2004 idem, Von den Sozialwissenschaften zur Gesellschaftswissenschaft und zur Zukunftsanalyse der globalen Wissensgesellschaft, Shaker Publ., Aachen, 2004, 480 pages (From Social Sciences to Societal Science and Onward to the Analysis of the Future of the Global Knowledge Society) Kimon Valaskakis, Mondialisation et gouvernance -Le défi de la régulation publique planétaire, in FUTURIBLES, no. 230, Paris, Avril 98 Werner Weidenfeld (ed.), Creating Partnership -The Future of Transatlantic Relations -The Bellevue-Meetings II, Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, Gütersloh, 1997 (contains a seven page literature list) |
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