The evolution of the European economic core area

The evolution of the European economic core area dr. Jeney László Senior lecturer jeney@elte. hu Economic Geography I. International Business bachelor study programme (BA) Autumn term 2015/2016. CUB Department of Economic Geography and Futures Studies

Economic core regions n Other definition: – Global North – Triad (North America, Europe, East Asia) + Australia n Appearance as core region: – – – n n Europe: from the Age of Discoveries and the industrial revolution North America, Australia: from the late 19 th century Japan: from the 1960 s (famous ancient East Asian cultures) Its state of development: in the forefront of the age Its development is autonomic and organic – Self-modernization: derived from the inner structure and the inner motivation of the society – Recognition of natural and human rules getting the new 2 resources ensure a more higher state of satisfaction of needs

Question of definition of Europe

What does the European core of the world economy mean? n Definition of Europe differs – Geographically – Politically 4

Geologically: not an own continent n n Europe: part (peninsula) of Asia/Eurasia (Eurasian plate) one huge continent India on the contrary: not part of Asia (Indian plate) Indian subcontinent 5

Physical geographical borders: not clear East border n More clear-cut: – South: Mediterranean Sea – West: Atlantic Ocean – North: Arctic Ocean n More debated: East – Not a sharp borderline between Europe and Asia – Humboldt: Eastern border of Europe is the Ural Mountains (fixed just in the 19 th century) – East: Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, 6 Black Sea)

Human geographical borders of Europe: hard to define the transcontinental countries n n European borders fall into the line of state borders Transcontinental countries: partly spread to Asia too – – – n Russia (European area 29%, pop. 72%) Kazakhstan (rather Asian) Turkey (European area 3%) Georgia (rather European) Azerbaijan (rather European) Physical geographically totally Asian countries with European orientation – Cyprus (partly Christian, member of EU)7 – Armenia (Christianity)

Cultural and social criterions of Europeanism according to Jordan, T. G. (1996) n Arbitrary criterions with arbitrary limit values 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Religion: Christian over 80% Language: Indo-Europeans over 80% Anthropological character: white population over 90% Health: infant mortality under 1% Developed economy: per capita GDP over 10. 000 $ Education: illiteracy under 10% Developed transport network: road density over 400 km/km 2 Industrial/tertiary employment structure: share of agricultural workers under 15% 9. High urbanization: urban residents over 50% 10. Stable population number: natural increase under 1% 8 11. Parliamentary democracy: before 1980

Political borders of Europe: membership of European integrations n Council of Europe: – European frontiers fall into the line of state borders – Wider: whole territory of geographical Europe is included (expect for Western part of Kazakhstan) – Spread also to Asia (Siberia, Caucasus Mountains, Anatolia, Cyprus) n European Union – Only 28 members – The overseas dependencies also joined (e. g. French Guiana from South America) – Greenland: entered as 9 dependency of Denmark, but separated in 1983

Evolution of Europeanism till the WW II

Appearance of the concept of Europe n In the early ancient times – Name of Europe: Phoenician ‘ereb’ (=darkness, sunset) – 8 th century BC: 1 st mention in Greek mythology – At the beginning: Europe ≈ Thrace + Macedonia – 6 th century BC: from Gibraltar to Caucasus Mts. – Herodotus, Hippocrates: political, cultural values (opposite to Asia, Persian Empire) 11

Europe under the Roman Empire n Roman Empire – 1 st big great political unit spreading to significant parts of Europe – Beyond the ‘limes’ (visible borderline): Barbaric lands (≈not Europeans) – But Middle East, North Africa also belonged to the empire concept of Europe turned to pale – Classic Greek-Roman culture: part of the European intellectual 12 heritage (Christianity, law, arts, Latin culture)

Middle Ages: Europeanism = Christian religion and ethics n Early Middle Ages: only Western (Catholic) Christianity – 6 th– 7 th century (Isidore, bishop of Seville): Europe = former Western Roman Empire n 8 th– 9 th century: Europe = Carolingian (Frankish) Empire – 2 nd big great political unit spreading to significant parts of Europe – Europe ~ foundation members of the European integration (EU: honours about Charlemagne) – Borders of EC ≈ the frontier of Western Christianity (except for orthodox East Balkan: GR, CY, BG, RO) – Opposite to the ‘heterodox’ Byzantine Empire not European n Renaissance (pope Pius II): Europe ≈ whole Christian world – Opposite to the ‘pagan’ Ottoman Empire (crusades) – Today also arises by the EU-accession of Turkey – Question of the word ‘Christian’ in the European Constitution 13

Special European cultural waves n Appearance of the common European identity – 15 th– 16 th century (Machiavelli): common history, culture and political interest of the European nations – Students at medieval universities from whole Europe (Latin, as common linguistic heritage) – Humanism ≈ Europeanism: (Dante: Alliances of states) n West European feudalist structure building bottom-up – – n Slackened bondages in the ruling class Civil rights with economic autonomy Rationalism, scientific–technical achievements Liberty, individualism (opposite to the more community orientated Eastern cultures) But reformation: reaction against to the common Europeanism – Breaking line: Catholic South – Protestant North – Organizations of nation states – Nationalism: ‘fashionable’ 14

European unity ideas during the long 19 th century n Colonization: strong European identity – Quantitative and qualitative development: supremacy n Empire of Napoleon – 3 rd big great political unit spreading to significant parts of Europe – Liberty, equality, fraternity = Europeanism n European integration – Mazzini, Kossuth: European Confederation – Victor Hugo (1849): European United States (like USA) 15

Effects of European civilization on different parts of the World according to Jordan, T. G. (1996) 16

European cultural pessimism at the 20 th century n n WW I: European nations fought against each other Instead of the former fashionable nationalism international intellectual waves (but global, not European) – Socialism: internationalism, but on the basis of working class – Catholicism: universal n Depression after WW I – Europeanism = agony, pessimism – Spengler: The Decline of the West – Jose Ortega y Gasset: mass of humans instead of Europanism 17

Pan-Europeanism at interwar period n n Except for Carlo Sforza: European United States Richard Coudenhowe Calergi: pan-European campaign (1923: book titled Pan-Europe) – Hate of nations further war – Threats: n From the East: communism (military) n From the West: Americanism (economic) n n n League of Nations 1926: 1 st Pan-European Congress Briand (French foreign min. ): – integrated the Pan-European approach to the League of Nations 18 – Suggested the establishment of an EU

WW II, Cold War: the worst periods in the European history n 1933: Hitler – new European order (Pax Germanica) – 4 th big great political unit spreading to significant parts of Europe n After WW II: – Role of Europe decreased in global politics (Germany, Italy, England, France) – 2 superpowers stand out: USA and SU n Cold War: Europe’s division in two parts (iron curtain) – Beginning of the European integration process – Europe = step by step widening European integration (EU) 19