Fascinating article. Any of those ideas are better than the Eurasia political union conceived by Orwell (who, let's hope not, could appear again as an accurate foreseer of the coming future)
As soon as I saw the title of this post I was hoping for Maas' map and you didn't disappoint! Have loved it ever since I saw a copy in person in the Esperanto Museum in Vienna. Never heard of the other two projects though, absolutely fascinating!
I've always been fascinated by the whole story of Esperanto (why and how it came about, and why it didn't get very far). I did not know about such a museum in Vienna, so now I have a good reason to go back (besides a real Sachertorte).
It’s in the same building as the Globe Museum, so you absolutely have to go back if you didn’t get a chance to see that last time! Honestly, the Coronelli globes alone are worth the flight fare
I definitely have to. The last time was 16 years ago and, to be fair, my mind was in a wholly different place (27 yo — surprisingly, Vienna's nightlife is quite appealing).
Notably, in the early 19th C., this was one of the long-term intentions of Giuseppe Mazzini and his Young Europe association(s) as well. He and his acolytes were nationalists with cosmopolitan ideals.
What a lot of people are unaware of today -- and possibly even people at the time such as Kohr who called for it when it was still around -- is that the USA for the first ~175 years of its existence (so during when all those people were calling for it) wasnt just a political federation, it was also an *economic federation*, meaning that it wasnt a fully integrated single unitary market like the EU has come close to achieving, it also wasnt simple a confederation, it was in the middle, it was deeply integrated and maintained a strong national (federal) structures in all matters, while also maintaining limited but significant latitude for policy variability (including in economic matters), a limited but moderate amount of inter-State trade frictions, and to a more significant -- yet still somewhat limited -- extent, inter-State capital flow inhibitors. It was a politically, economically, governmentally, and scientifically decentralized system. Not a seamless, single, centralized system. It was a *federation*.
Expressions of nationalism and national pride with the belief of having discrete ancestry and culture create the impression that everything has been relatively stable in Europe for years, decades, centuries, and millennia.
But this is far from reality. We are all part of the same flippin' family ... err ... hmm ... 🤔
Perhaps this is probably why most families only meet once a year on top of weddings and funerals.
Fascinating article. Any of those ideas are better than the Eurasia political union conceived by Orwell (who, let's hope not, could appear again as an accurate foreseer of the coming future)
I have already prepared a nice historical tale around that I think you two will like.
Really waiting for that :)
As soon as I saw the title of this post I was hoping for Maas' map and you didn't disappoint! Have loved it ever since I saw a copy in person in the Esperanto Museum in Vienna. Never heard of the other two projects though, absolutely fascinating!
I've always been fascinated by the whole story of Esperanto (why and how it came about, and why it didn't get very far). I did not know about such a museum in Vienna, so now I have a good reason to go back (besides a real Sachertorte).
It’s in the same building as the Globe Museum, so you absolutely have to go back if you didn’t get a chance to see that last time! Honestly, the Coronelli globes alone are worth the flight fare
I definitely have to. The last time was 16 years ago and, to be fair, my mind was in a wholly different place (27 yo — surprisingly, Vienna's nightlife is quite appealing).
Notably, in the early 19th C., this was one of the long-term intentions of Giuseppe Mazzini and his Young Europe association(s) as well. He and his acolytes were nationalists with cosmopolitan ideals.
Good point too. Thanks for bringing it up.
Very interesting article, enjoyed reading it
Thank you!
What a lot of people are unaware of today -- and possibly even people at the time such as Kohr who called for it when it was still around -- is that the USA for the first ~175 years of its existence (so during when all those people were calling for it) wasnt just a political federation, it was also an *economic federation*, meaning that it wasnt a fully integrated single unitary market like the EU has come close to achieving, it also wasnt simple a confederation, it was in the middle, it was deeply integrated and maintained a strong national (federal) structures in all matters, while also maintaining limited but significant latitude for policy variability (including in economic matters), a limited but moderate amount of inter-State trade frictions, and to a more significant -- yet still somewhat limited -- extent, inter-State capital flow inhibitors. It was a politically, economically, governmentally, and scientifically decentralized system. Not a seamless, single, centralized system. It was a *federation*.
That's an excellent point, Mike. Thanks for the insight.
Fascinating. So much change and shifting around.
Expressions of nationalism and national pride with the belief of having discrete ancestry and culture create the impression that everything has been relatively stable in Europe for years, decades, centuries, and millennia.
But this is far from reality. We are all part of the same flippin' family ... err ... hmm ... 🤔
Perhaps this is probably why most families only meet once a year on top of weddings and funerals.
I truly hope we manage to get better than all those families that only meet once a year!