Supranational organizations, devolution, and forces that unite or divide states

Two opposite forces are reshaping the world's states. In supranationalism, countries give up some sovereignty to cooperate through organizations with shared goals: the United Nations (193 member states) promotes peace and cooperation, the European Union (27 members since the United Kingdom left in 2020) has a common market and, for most members, a shared currency, the euro, and NATO (32 members as of 2024) is a military alliance whose members pledge mutual defense; regional groups like the African Union and ASEAN work similarly. In devolution, power shifts from a central government to regions, often in response to regional or ethnic identity, as when Scotland gained its own parliament in 1999, while separatist movements, like those in Quebec and Catalonia, have sought full independence. Centripetal forces hold a state together, such as a shared language or religion, national symbols, strong institutions, and transportation links, while centrifugal forces pull it apart, such as ethnic, religious, or language divisions, unequal wealth between regions, and physical barriers. When centrifugal forces win, states can break apart, as Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union did in the early 1990s and as South Sudan separated from Sudan in 2011.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report