Great Power In Numbers? A View At The True Strength of the European Union

          The struggle for power is a reoccurring theme in international relations. States want to establish themselves as a strong state both domestically and in the eyes of other states. However, few countries fit the criteria of being great powers. In discussion, the consensus criterion of what constituted a great power was a strong military, strong economy, and vast reaching cultural influence. We look at the world and see few great powers that exist. I believe that it is extremely improbable that any nation of the European Union, with the exception of Germany and maybe the United Kingdom, possess the capabilities of being a great power in todays world or in the future. Other than Germany and the United Kingdom, none of the 25 other nations have all three criteria that would make them a great power. I plan to focus on each area and show that although these states may be strong as an entity, individually their power is weakened. 

            The first area that I will focus on is the lack of strong militaries. One indication of a strong military is based on military spending. A recent pole conducted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ranked the top 15 countries in the world when it comes to military spending. Only four countries in the EU made this list: Germany, the UK, France, and Italy. This may seem probable because these countries are among the largest in the EU. One might argue that the reason so few nations in the EU spend large sums of money on their military is because they do not see that it is needed. Europe has been relatively stable over the past 60 years and theorists do not see that changing any time soon. Rather than invest their resources in building a meaningless large military, many of these nations focus on maintaining economic security.

            The second criterion that many of the EU nations fail to meet is economic strength. The European Union formed in part as a trade union to boost their economies. The Union has grown to be one of the most formidable economic entities in the world. This being said, I do not believe that any country, with the exception of Germany and the UK, could be able to have a thriving economy standing apart from the Union. These countries thrive on the ability of being able to work in tandem with one another, which raises their status as a trading power on the international stage. Without this, many of these nations would not be as successful and in turn lose economic strength. If the EU were to dismantle (hypothetically), I feel that few countries in the EU would maintain the same level of economic prowess. Their strength comes from being able to work with one another, and in a world where they had to stand alone I think that we would see a significant shift in power. 

            Along with economic and military strength, it is important for a country to have a widespread cultural influence. As we discussed in class, the various forms of cultural influence can be culminated into the broad term of “soft power”. According to a Monacle survey of countries with the highest amounts of soft power, Germany tops the list, followed by the UK and then other members of the EU (later on). I believe that one major aspect of this strong cultural influence is because these countries have established themselves as countries with strong hard power, through their economies and militaries. This causes many people to want to emulate their culture, whether it is through setting up company headquarters in the country or have strong educational ties around the world. I believe that no other country in the EU has the capability of attaining and maintaining such cultural influence because they are not looked upon as one of the world’s premier nations, causing a lack of interest in their culture.

            Looking down the road, I do not think most of the members of the EU have the capabilities to grow into a great world power. The lack of need for a large military is one of the strongest leading factors for this. Some nations, such as France will grow in their soft power in the coming years. However, almost each of thee countries economic strength is through connection with one another. The European Union as a whole is a formidable power in the world stage. However, if we had to look at how countries would fare on their own, I believe that the only country who has even a remote chance of joining Germany and the UK as world power is France (albeit highly unlikely). There is a reason why there are so few great powers in the world, because so few states have the capabilities of holding the criteria.