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Why can't Europeans get on?

It seems that we can't go more than a few decades without some war, dispute or fall out over the EU (in terms of the modern era).

Some southern US states are probably more distinct than northern US states than European countries are to each other. Yet they have united under an overarching partnership/country for hundreds of years.

Why don't Europeans get on?
Original post by Lady Comstock
It seems that we can't go more than a few decades without some war, dispute or fall out over the EU (in terms of the modern era).

Some southern US states are probably more distinct than northern US states than European countries are to each other. Yet they have united under an overarching partnership/country for hundreds of years.

Why don't Europeans get on?

Tribalism
It's been like that since the dawn of humanity (unless you're a religious zealot).
Cus everybody hates scotland


Posted from TSR Mobile
what do you mean "get on"? get on shouldn't mean "form a political confederation" when they've been distinct countries/cultures for hundreds/thousands of years
Original post by zippity.doodah
what do you mean "get on"? get on shouldn't mean "form a political confederation" when they've been distinct countries/cultures for hundreds/thousands of years


New York is more distinct from Louisiana than the UK is to Germany.
Original post by Lady Comstock
New York is more distinct from Louisiana than the UK is to Germany.


I disagree. and even if I agreed, why is that a reason to have less democracy? you will have less democracy if you merge countries because as two separate states, elections are more accurate to people's desires with more politicians per population.
Reply 6
Original post by Lady Comstock
It seems that we can't go more than a few decades without some war, dispute or fall out over the EU (in terms of the modern era).

Some southern US states are probably more distinct than northern US states than European countries are to each other. Yet they have united under an overarching partnership/country for hundreds of years.

Why don't Europeans get on?


Fertile land and location are historic factors and then from about 1400 culture all contributed to the success of Europe relative to the world but also meant that it was somewhere that competing Empires fought for. Nowadays your overdoing it i think, chances are the Greeks will vote to stay in the Euro and the UK is not even having a really bad argument, more a whine while it refuses to join the core or piss off.
Reply 7
I mean i know in the past we have had wars over kings/religion/other pointless crap but in recent years i would say we are getting a long pretty well. In terms of why we always seem to be at each others throats at least politically i think it is largely to do with the fact that Europe is a pretty small continent that has basically created the world as we know it today, as a result there is a lot of pride among European people regarding their history and accomplishments which many view as devalued especially in the eyes of other European countries when talking about Europe as a whole. It's very easy to form a state when its effectively one powerful "area" absorbing lots of less powerful areas but when you have a small continent consisting of 51 countries all of which have unique and impressive elements and achievements that their citizens take pride in unifying them in a manner that the majority of the population of each country find acceptable is very very hard if not impossible.

There are other factors as well such as we don't really need to get on, both the UK and France are nuclear powers with Germany, Italy and probably a bunch others at this point all having access to nukes under US control. the UK, France and Germany all have extremely well trained and capable armies (in fact in terms of a global comparison i would argue that nearly every European country has a formidable military). Economically we aren't great but realistically we aren't that bad either, In my opinion the EU has the best human rights in the world and we have a pretty decent attitude towards education and in general are extremely progressive.

It's not so much we don't want to come together it's more there is really no need for us to at this moment in time, if there was some big global threat like Russia and China decided to merge into one super douche nation and the US sank or something the concept of merging into one big European super power would, i think, be much more likely to happen.
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As we can see from the maps Europe is divided with mountain ranges, rivers and peninsular's making it almost impossible to unite. Compared to the US which is united by a river network.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Lady Comstock
New York is more distinct from Louisiana than the UK is to Germany.


No it isn't Germany and Britain have 1,000 years of different legacy and different challenges. The British were fighting the French while the German's were always fighting among themselves or against Poland, Sweden and Russia. Then when we both were threatened by France we allied. However Britain's part was more a supporting role on land and a most important role on sea. This is because of geography and logistics.
[video="youtube;r-8KV_GurLY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-8KV_GurLY[/video]
Original post by Rakas21
Fertile land and location are historic factors and then from about 1400 culture all contributed to the success of Europe relative to the world but also meant that it was somewhere that competing Empires fought for. Nowadays your overdoing it i think, chances are the Greeks will vote to stay in the Euro and the UK is not even having a really bad argument, more a whine while it refuses to join the core or piss off.


Asia has fertile land, central africa has fertile land
Original post by BrightBlueLight
Asia has fertile land, central africa has fertile land


Asia was as developed as Europe until 1700, that's mainly when culture gave us an edge. We also had a silk road to trade.

Central Africa has the Sahara cutting it off the rest of the world (historically when you had to walk through it). Closed economies develop slower than open ones (theoretically).

..

To be fair, none of these areas really get on either.
Christianity, Differing economic conditions etc
The US has united because they have shared foundations, and fundamentals, plus they allow considerable autonomy at state level, precisely the 'distinctness' you refer to. Europe is a collection of cultures that evolved separately, even if certain languages contain the same roots. Now it tries to impose universal norms as a bureaucratic monolith. This is why it is less successful in many ways than the US. Although, the US is in a mess.
Original post by Lady Comstock
It seems that we can't go more than a few decades without some war, dispute or fall out over the EU (in terms of the modern era).

Some southern US states are probably more distinct than northern US states than European countries are to each other. Yet they have united under an overarching partnership/country for hundreds of years.

Why don't Europeans get on?


European countries all have different views, which means that there will always be conflict. To be honest, it's the same in other continents.

Have you left the MHoC?
I think it's easy to get drawn into big debates here, but we've got to look at the big picture.

And like it or not, it remains the case that some of them are French and therefore must be hated.

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