Why has the Britain's membership of the EU been so problematical - Essay Example

?Why Has the Britain’s Membership of the EU Been So Problematical? Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Problems Associated with Britain’s Membership with the EU 4 Further Readings In Relation To the Issues 6 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The term politics is considered to be the theory along with the practice of influencing different individuals on an individual or civic level. In a narrowed sense, it refers to the process of exercising different aspects of governance in order to organise proper control over an individual community, mainly in a state (Grant, 2003). Membership of European Union (EU) with Britain has been a controversial concern. Eurosceptics (people who do not support the sovereignty of the European Union), believe that it would have been better if Britain was put aside outside the economic and political context. Permissions are being sought to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union (Daddow, 2004; Crowson, 2006). Thus, the term can very well be related with the subject i.e. why has the Britain’s membership of the EU been so problematical? Considering this facet, the essay will represent all the major issues that determine the membership of Britain with the EU to be problematical and with full of adversities. A critical evaluation will be made regarding the issues with the aid of analysis of the opinions derived from the different critics. Problems Associated with Britain’s Membership with the EU It has been recognised that the European Commission made a decision to prompt legal action against Britain as it was found to be restricting the benefits to certain foreign nationals. This factor played a very crucial role in determining Britain’s involvement in European Union to be not up to the mark. Considering the issue of Britain’s membership of the EU, this political debate has been able to raise many eyebrows. This factor can be provided with the maximum amount of weightage owing to the fact that Britain was unable to serve the basic purposes of forming a proper alliance with the EU. Consequently, it can be said that issues relating sovereignty of the EU was in a questionable state having Britain as one of its members (Daddow, 2004; Crowson, 2006). There are other reports suggesting a lack of proper alignment in relation to the performance of membership functions from the part of Britain with the EU. Every country possesses certain basic ideas about their role that they need to play in the world, which forms its identity and helps in the establishment of its relationship with other countries. The historical era of the British Empire has been able to considerably influence the way in which the British political influence sees its position in Europe. However, all of these factors did not seem to provide an upper hand to Britain in alignment with the EU. It has been recognised that being a powerful body, Britain was finding it very much difficult to adjust its political interest. Moreover, it was also proving to be quite distressful while narrowing its political attention only in Europe. Britain has always been considered as a latecomer in the overall community of EU. Moreover, Britain had to face serious amount of difficulties accommodating it to those rules and policies that were already established from before in the EU region. It faced difficulties because a few of the rules and regulations represented direct conflicts with that of the fundamental principles which bind the entire British Constitution. Thus, it created an uneven situation for Britain resulting in paving conflicting situations. Bitterness with France along with strong association with America did not seem to be posing a pleasant political scenario for Britain rather it accounted for the emergence of additional issues to Britain. On a different context, it was not only Britain that had to adjust with EU, but EU had also major issues with Britain. It has also been ascertained that Britain joining the EU community specifically for economic purposes seem to pose a great deal of concern for the EU community. Moreover, the community was not at all contented with the fact that Britain joined their community at a time when it was a drastic situation relating to economic terms. These factors triggered a great deal of economic concerns as it resulted in dissatisfaction among the communities including Britain. All of these aspects also gave rise to disillusionment through which both entities i.e. the EU community and Britain were affected. From the start of the year 1979 till 1997, different conservative forms of governments added to an elevated level of British separation from the EU community. This particular community was getting all round support from other governmental bodies to end up their association with Britain. This factor proved to provide a great deal of concern to Britain. Based upon all of these factors, it is apparent that the separation of both the entities was certain (Crowson, 2006). Further Readings In Relation To the Issues Britain joined the European Community (EU) community in the year 1973. Consequently, it was able to derive high end benefits. It was able to pool certain amount of sovereignty along with certain other member states in order to derive mutual benefits. This phase continued for a very long period whereby, sharing of sovereignty was widely noticed. From the beginning itself, the EU was considered to be an establishment having strong political objectives. It has been able to openly acknowledge and apply all the fundamentals of politics for a considerable period of time. Nonetheless, things seem to take a different turn when the British government took the historic decision for applying for membership with the EU community. It proved to be the occurrence of an unexpected event that the EU community was not prepared for (Jackson, 2012). It is felt that things did not turn out be positive while talking about the alliance between the EU community and Britain because both the entities were unable to forecast the broad advantages to be sought after forming the membership. Rather, both the entities were following a narrow mind-set which resulted in their separation. EU community and Britain overlooked the fact that high amount of political growth will be achievable if these two entities operate in a joint basis. Moreover, the EU community was very much eager to uphold the political sovereignty and also it did not like the fact that Britain may not have the urge towards following all the fundamental policies along with regulations of the EU community. Moreover, while creating the separation, the EU community was unable to review the benefits and unprecedented amount of peace along with prosperity that can be felt in Europe. Operating with other nations especially Britain could have led to a great deal of transformation in relation to the economic, cultural along with political context. It would also have led to transformation of the quality of lives of the Europeans to a very large extent. All of these factors were overlooked which in turn led to Britain’s membership with the EU to transpire as problematic (Jackson, 2012; Crowson, 2006). It is fact that the EU was able to develop to a very large extent since Britain joined the community in the year 1973. There had been even signs of flexibility since the period beginning from 1973. One of the likely reasons for the birth of all sorts of problematic situations during their membership is the factor relating to the challenges that most of the nations’ face nowadays. Different challenges pertaining to terrorism, security, climate change, renewable resources and the overall environment along with the association with the developing world require great deal of sovereignty. The European partners are unable to realise that of all these issues are massive for them to cope up with alone. For facing such challenges, the EU community will require association with strong entities such as Britain, in order to address such broad concerns in an effective manner. However, through the analysis, it has been ascertained that certain Labour governments seem to speak in a similar notion. They had showed high amount of interest in forming an alliance between European Union and Britain. They were primarily striving to create membership between the two entities. The political scenario tends to change at a much rapid pace and there is possible hope that better cooperation between the entities might be seen in the near future. However, if certain events arise then it will definitely lead to the formation of an uphill struggle between the EU community and Britain (Jones, 1999). Conclusion From the overall analysis, it has been observed that the membership of European Union with Britain has always been a controversial chapter in the overall context of politics. The analysis helped in citing a lucid understanding regarding the fact that Britain had to adjust many a times with the political regulations of the EU. Moreover, it has also been learnt that the EU community along Britain overlooked the fact that high chances of political growth can be achieved if these two entities operated shared manner. In this modern world where the global power has shifted to certain power entities such as the United States, the establishment of a powerful European Union community entailing Britain can be a decisive factor to set forth unprecedented power shifts in the global arena. References Crowson, N. J., 2006. The Conservative Party and European Integration since 1945: At the Heart of Europe? Routledge. Daddow, O. J., 2004. Britain and Europe Since 1945: Historiographical Perspectives on Integration. Manchester University Press. Grant, M., 2003. Key Ideas in Politics. Nelson Thornes. Jackson, P., 2012. British Sources of Information: A Subject Guide and Bibliography. Routledge. Jones, B., 1999. Political Issues in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. Read More