News and Research on Europe highlighting Robert Schuman's political, economic, philosophical contribution from the independent Schuman Project Directed by David H Price.
Further information Tel/Fax: +322 230 7621. email: info@schuman.info            ©Bron 1999- 2009
ROBERT SCHUMAN

Learn about Schuman's life

What contemporaries thought of Schuman 

Robert Schuman's Proposal of 9 May 1950 

Was the Proposal the start of a European Federation?

Europe's democratic institutions
FIVE institutions for Europe

Schuman on Democratic Liberty

What is the difference between a federation or a supranational Community?

EUROPE'S HISTORY

WARNING! Counterfeiters of European History OFFICIALLY at Work! 

What did Schuman say about post-Soviet Europe? 

POLICY

EU's ENERGY non-policy 

 How to manage disastrous CLIMATE    CHANGE 

ENLARGEMENT
Europe's Geography already extends worldwide!  
Is Turkey European? Is Cyprus? Is Russia?   

  Enlargement: long awaited! Collect EU's 5 keys 



What Schuman said about Globalization
 

What is the real essence of globalization?
"The law of solidarity of peoples is asserting itself on our conscience today. We feel shoulder to shoulder in the preservation of peace, in our defence against aggression, in our fight against famine, in the respect of treaties and in the safeguarding of justice and human dignity."

Can nations escape the effect of globalization?
"We have gained the conviction, by the demonstration of facts, that nations, far from being able to be self-sufficient, have become partners with each other; that the best way to serve one's own country is to assure the cooperation of others by reciprocal efforts and by sharing our resources."

Are people the central issue in globalization? 
"Continents and peoples depend more and more than ever on each other, either for the production of goods and their sale, or for the exchange of scientific research results as well as for the necessary work force and the means of production. The political economy is becoming inevitably a global economy."

The considered European attitude to globalization respects fellow humans
"The consequence of this interdependence is that the fate- whether for happiness or misery - of one people cannot leave others indifferent. For a thinking European it is no longer possible to rejoice with Machiavellian malice at the misfortune of a neighbour; all of us are united for the better or the worse in a community of destiny."

Can Schuman's supranational method be applied to problems of globalization?
"Europe has procured for all mankind the means to arrive at its full potential. It is up to her to show a new direction, quite different from that which leads to dominating others. This way accepts the plurality of civilizations where each can be practiced with the same respect for each of the others."

Is the United Nations the answer to a world community ?
"The question must be asked whether a world community is realizable and in what measure. We have seen up to now partial initiatives. Can we conceive of having a universal organization with sufficient effectiveness and including practically all the countries of the world? Here we should look at the facts very frankly and realistically, not only in the light of ideas that we may have but also in that of the experiences that we have already had with the League of Nations and the United Nations Organization. The existence of such a world community up till now has been more symbolic than real. The links that unite different countries are often fictitious, the divergencies striking.... The Security Council is paralyzed by the right of veto, which is a fault in its structure but difficult as such to renounce: no-one can submit to the law of numbers in an assembly of over a hundred such divergent countries."

What are more realistic bases for a world community?
"A real community requires at least common interests and affinities. Countries don't come together as a group unless they feel they have something in common. Above all what they hold in common must include a minimum of trust. There should be also a minimum of identical interests, without which they would revert to simple coexistence but not cooperation. To understand each other and construct a close union, we cannot rule out the drawing of distinctions in certain areas, but there must be a sufficient number of bonds and common ideas."

How can unifying sectors and interests be distinguished for a world community as happened in Europe?
"To serve mankind is a duty equal to that which demands our loyalty to the nation. And it is thus that we will proceed towards a concept of a world where we discern more and more the vision and the identity of that which unites nations, for what they hold in common, and where conciliation can be made in areas that distinguish our nations or brings them into opposition."
 

What is the world's priority problem and therefore the source of one world supranational action today?

    Our environmental crisis and climate change?
    Nuclear, chemical and biological war?
    World Poverty?
    Population crisis and resources?
    Planetary threats?
    World terrorism?
Application of Schuman's method in other areas:

 Theory and practice of supranational method for Russia and Near East

 The supranational approach to post-Soviet globalization

 Scenarios for healing the continental European economy

 A mathematical approach to supranationalism
 
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