Transcript Economic core regions

The evolution of the
European economic core
area
dr. Jeney László
Senior lecturer
[email protected]
Economic Geography
I. International Business bachelor study programme (BA)
Autumn term 2015/2016.
CUB Department of Economic Geography and Futures Studies
Economic core
regions

Other definition:
– Global North
– Triad (North America, Europe, East Asia) + Australia

Appearance as core region:
– Europe: from the Age of Discoveries and the industrial revolution
– North America, Australia: from the late 19th century
– Japan: from the 1960s (famous ancient East Asian cultures)
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Its state of development: in the forefront of the age
Its development is autonomic and organic
– Self-modernization: derived from the inner structure and the
inner motivation of the society
– Recognition of natural and human rules  getting the new 2
resources  ensure a more higher state of satisfaction of needs
Question of definition of
Europe
What does the European core
of the world economy mean?

Definition of Europe differs
– Geographically
– Politically
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Geologically: not an
own continent

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Europe: part
(peninsula) of
Asia/Eurasia
(Eurasian plate)
 one huge
continent
India on the
contrary: not
part of Asia
(Indian plate) 
Indian
subcontinent5
Physical geographical
borders: not clear East
border

More clear-cut:
– South: Mediterranean Sea
– West: Atlantic Ocean
– North: Arctic Ocean

More debated: East
– Not a sharp borderline between
Europe and Asia
– Humboldt: Eastern border of Europe
is the Ural Mountains (fixed just in
the 19th century)
– East: Ural Mountains, Ural River,
Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains,
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Black Sea)
Human geographical borders of
Europe: hard to define the
transcontinental countries
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European borders fall into the line of
state borders
Transcontinental countries: partly
spread to Asia too
–
–
–
–
–

Russia (European area 29%, pop. 72%)
Kazakhstan (rather Asian)
Turkey (European area 3%)
Georgia (rather European)
Azerbaijan (rather European)
Physical geographically totally Asian
countries with European orientation
– Cyprus (partly Christian, member of EU)7
– Armenia (Christianity)
Cultural and social criterions of
Europeanism according to Jordan,
T. G. (1996)

Arbitrary criterions with arbitrary limit values
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Religion: Christian over 80%
Language: Indo-Europeans over 80%
Anthropological character: white population over 90%
Health: infant mortality under 1%
Developed economy: per capita GDP over 10.000 $
Education: illiteracy under 10%
Developed transport network: road density over 400km/km2
Industrial/tertiary employment structure: share of agricultural
workers under 15%
9. High urbanization: urban residents over 50%
10. Stable population number: natural increase under 1%
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11. Parliamentary democracy: before 1980
Political borders of Europe:
membership of European
integrations

Council of Europe:
– European frontiers fall into
the line of state borders
– Wider: whole territory of
geographical Europe is
included (expect for Western
part of Kazakhstan)
– Spread also to Asia (Siberia,
Caucasus Mountains,
Anatolia, Cyprus)

European Union
– Only 28 members
– The overseas dependencies
also joined (e.g. French
Guiana from South America)
– Greenland: entered as
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dependency of Denmark,
but separated in 1983
Evolution of Europeanism till
the WW II
Appearance of the concept of
Europe

In the early ancient
times
– Name of Europe:
Phoenician ‘ereb’
(=darkness, sunset)
– 8th century BC: 1st
mention in Greek
mythology
– At the beginning:
Europe ≈ Thrace +
Macedonia
– 6th century BC: from
Gibraltar to Caucasus
Mts.
– Herodotus, Hippocrates:
political, cultural values
(opposite to Asia, 11
Persian Empire)
Europe under the Roman Empire

Roman Empire
– 1st big great political unit
spreading to significant
parts of Europe
– Beyond the ‘limes’
(visible borderline):
Barbaric lands (≈not
Europeans)
– But Middle East, North
Africa also belonged to
the empire  concept of
Europe turned to pale
– Classic Greek-Roman
culture: part of the
European intellectual
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heritage (Christianity,
law, arts, Latin culture)
Middle Ages:
Europeanism = Christian
religion and ethics

Early Middle Ages: only Western (Catholic) Christianity
– 6th–7th century (Isidore, bishop of Seville): Europe = former
Western Roman Empire

8th–9th century: Europe = Carolingian (Frankish) Empire
– 2nd big great political unit spreading to significant parts of
Europe
– Europe ~ foundation members of the European integration (EU:
honours about Charlemagne)
– Borders of EC ≈ the frontier of Western Christianity (except for
orthodox East Balkan: GR, CY, BG, RO)
– Opposite to the ‘heterodox’ Byzantine Empire  not European

Renaissance (pope Pius II): Europe ≈ whole Christian
world
– Opposite to the ‘pagan’ Ottoman Empire (crusades)
– Today also arises by the EU-accession of Turkey
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– Question of the word ‘Christian’ in the European Constitution
Special European cultural waves
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Appearance of the common European identity
– 15th–16th century (Machiavelli): common history, culture and political
interest of the European nations
– Students at medieval universities from whole Europe (Latin, as common
linguistic heritage)
– Humanism ≈ Europeanism: (Dante: Alliances of states)
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West European feudalist structure building bottom-up
–
–
–
–
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Slackened bondages in the ruling class
Civil rights with economic autonomy
Rationalism, scientific–technical achievements
Liberty, individualism (opposite to the more community orientated
Eastern cultures)
But reformation: reaction against to the common Europeanism
– Breaking line: Catholic South – Protestant North
– Organizations of nation states
– Nationalism: ‘fashionable’
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European unity ideas
during the long 19th
century

Colonization: strong European identity
– Quantitative and qualitative development: supremacy

Empire of Napoleon
– 3rd big great political unit spreading to significant
parts of Europe
– Liberty, equality, fraternity = Europeanism
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European integration
– Mazzini, Kossuth: European Confederation
– Victor Hugo (1849): European United States (like
USA)
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Effects of European civilization on
different parts of the World
according to Jordan, T. G. (1996)
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European cultural pessimism at
the 20th century
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WW I: European nations fought against each other
Instead of the former fashionable nationalism
international intellectual waves (but global, not
European)
– Socialism: internationalism, but on the basis of working class
– Catholicism: universal
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Depression after WW I
– Europeanism = agony, pessimism
– Spengler: The Decline of the West
– Jose Ortega y Gasset: mass of humans instead of Europanism
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Pan-Europeanism at interwar
period
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Except for Carlo Sforza: European United States
Richard Coudenhowe Calergi: pan-European campaign
(1923: book titled Pan-Europe)
– Hate of nations  further war
– Threats:
 From the East: communism (military)
 From the West: Americanism (economic)
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League of Nations
1926: 1st Pan-European Congress
Briand (French foreign min.):
– integrated the Pan-European approach to the League of Nations
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– Suggested the establishment of an EU
WW II, Cold War: the
worst periods in the
European history
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1933: Hitler – new European order (Pax Germanica)
– 4th big great political unit spreading to significant parts of Europe
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After WW II:
– Role of Europe decreased in global politics (Germany, Italy,
England, France)
– 2 superpowers stand out: USA and SU
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Cold War: Europe’s division in two parts (iron curtain)
– Beginning of the European integration process
– Europe = step by step widening European integration (EU)
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