Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Belgian Conundrum

Ages ago – light years in blog terms in fact – Megan noticed The Economist pointing out that the euro has lessened the pressure that Belgian politicians might otherwise face to settle their differences and observes:

Now that the European Union has taken over the currency, as well as many of the trade and customs functions of traditional federal governments, Belgium as a state suddenly looks a lot less necessary. One wonders if the current era of economic integration (assuming it continues) might not bring increasing political balkanization.

Well, yes indeed. The same might be said of the United Kingdom. Moves towards greater regional autonymy across Europe are a direct response to the increasing power of the EU itself. As political life becomes more centralised on one supra-national level, so the forces  – and attraction – of localism become ever more powerful as voters seek a more flexible, responsive form of government in the areas of political life that have the most immediate impact upon their everyday lives.

This should not surprise; for many people what globalisation – seemingly so distant, so impersonal and yet also so very irresistible – strengthens their attachment to smaller platoons. Globalisation breeds localisation, if you will. These trends are  not opposed to one another, however. On the contrary, localism is only possible in the context of an increasingly prosperous, peaceful and open world.

Take the United Kingdom for example. John Steinbeck once wrote that it was wrong to consider Scotland a lost cause, for she merely remained an unwon cause. And there’s been many – millions even – of Scots who have been sentimental Jacobites at one point or another. But most of the time for most of us, the head has ruled the heart. The old cause might tug the heart, but sober calculation of the national interest concluded that the Union – with all the security and economic guarantees it offered – was the better deal.

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