Western Europe is a very diverse region that is comprised of 19 to 20 (depending on Greece) nations including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (Pennsylvania State University 2016). Greece is often considered the origin of western civilization garnering credit for many modern principles including Democracy and language. Western Europe has undergone many changes over the centuries and been reborn many times with the renaissance and religious wars but has expanded and influenced civilizations across the world including discovering, starting, and influencing many modern civilizations like Central, South, and North America, India, and Africa. Over 284 languages are spoken in Europe and has over 700 million inhabitants (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014 p.461) making it a very diverse place.
Modern day Western Europe while still very diverse has worked to form high-synergy among many of the nations in the region. High-synergy cultures tend to be highly cooperative, community-oriented, and have the good of all in mind. Typically, these societies are collectivistic in nature often due to similarities among the people (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014 p.266). Shortly after WW II Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands saw a need for a shared trade market and joined to form the European Coal and Steel Community eventually expanding to other goods and becoming known as the European Economic Community (Pennsylvania State University 2016). In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty was signed creating a European Council, Commission, and Parliament leading the way to the EU or European Union with the euro becoming the currency for member nations in 2002 (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014 p.462). By 2010 the EU has 27 different member nations with more applying for admittance and has annual GDP of $16 trillion and 500 million people. The EU has 3 central themes; (1) attain a single market economy that offers wealth, stability, and political clout (2) establish European-wide policies and institutions and (3) respect the differences between members of the union (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014 p.462). The strength and synergy of the EU has been so successful that other nations are willing to make peace and adopt Democratic reforms and western values of the EU nations to gain admittance (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014 p.464).
However it appears that trying to achieve synergy with the EU has bothered the Uniter Kingdom and it has filed to leave the EU by vote of 52% to 48%. “They said Britain was being held back by the EU, which they said imposed too many rules on business and charged billions of pounds a year in membership fees for little in return. They also cited sovereignty and democracy, and they wanted Britain to take back full control of its borders and reduce the number of people coming here to live and/or work.” (Wheeler, 2016). The future impact of this vote is yet to be seen and many more things need to happen before it can become official, but early indicators were a new 30 year low drop in value of the pound after the results became public (Wheeler, 2016).
Moran, R. Abramson, N. Moran, S. (2014) Managing Cultural Differences 9th edition. Routledge Publishing New York, NY.
Pennsylvania State University (2016). Lesson 12: Western Europe Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179138
I love reading about Modern day Western Europe. There is so much rich culture that comes from it. I like how you highlighted the diversity and and how high-synergy cultures are cooperative and community oriented. I think it’s so important to remember how many languages and people make up Western Europe. I think you did a great job capturing the ideas of synergy throughout. I would have never known the fact about the United Kingdom and how they filed to lave the EU by a vote of 52% to 48%. Great facts throughout!