A Case Study in Sovereignty: the EU, Euro and Eurozone
Introduction and Statement of Purpose
Traditionally, "sovereignty" is discussed and assessed in the context of the nation-state, an autonomous entity that pursues specific goals and objectives in its interactions with other political entities and which acts to protect its autonomy when threatened by others. Today, however, new mechanisms of governance have been created that pose a challenge to this traditional interpretation of "sovereignty" and the state. One example is the European Union (EU), which has launched not only a currency regime (the Euro) and a corresponding zone of influence (the EUROZONE), but also created a central bank (The European Central Bank or ECB) and a parliamentary organ as well as a potentially normative constitution bringing EU and EUROZONE members into a closer and closer relationship.
European integration, initiated first by the creation of the Common Market and now expanded dramatically to include political as well as economic integration structures, may be a consequence of globalization. It is also a harbinger of a changing attitude toward the state-centric concept of sovereignty. The EU, particularly in light of the creation of a transnational currency regime and a legislative assembly and central bank, has become a sovereign entity in and of itself; however, the question of how such an entity will ultimately impact upon the activities of member states remains unanswered. As significant is the fact that while the membership of the EU is growing, not all EU members participate in the Euro or the EUROZONE; this creates a multi-level EU in which a selected assortment of sovereign states are juxtaposed against a larger group of nonparticipants, for whom many of the benefits of EU membership are not available. Clearly, as Aalberts has suggested, this has the potential for engendering conflict and tensions among EU members and undermining ...