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Introduction:

An extrapolation of the political scene in Europe, this complex of various interests, forces and developments, will be hard to squeeze into relative clear statements and predictions. The political, economic and social and cultural realities are closely linked, but the living conditions of the Europeans, the organization of the political and economical structures and the relations to outside Europe must be important.<br />
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The present, mid-2014, political scene in Europe is strongly influenced by the economical crisis, especially the debt crisis in Southern Europe. The general growth in EU is smaller than in the parts of the world that Europe usually compares with.<br />
The economic situation has not been that bad for many decades, and that goes for the unemployment as well. The unemployment, especially among the youth, is massive and alarming. The development in the, rich, northern Europe and the, poorer, southern Europe generates tensions. At the same time the gap between rich and poor in Europe is widening.<br />
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The 2014 election to the European parliament has shown a greater amount of scepticism towards the EU than is seen for a long time and also an increasing ignorance to what happens in the EU. The parliament works for more influence, and efforts towards a more federal structure for EU continue.<br />
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The European Commission has initiated talks towards a free trade agreement with the United States. So far it has not been the intention to include the public in these talks and eventually provoke too much political turbulence. Anyways protests are starting. Europe/EU still hesitate in taking the decisive steps towards fighting the climate changes and their consequences, and the EU is still one of real heavy polluters.<br />
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The World is still in the aftermath of the American Middle East wars. Syria in the border region of Europe is experiencing a devastating civil war, the result of which no one can foresee because so many different interests collide. Europe fears the consequences and some European countries have joined the US in an air born intervention in Syria and Iraq. One of the European fears is the millions of refugees, produced by these conflicts, many heading for Europe. Egypt is not yet stable after removing one dictator for to see another one to take over. Ukraine is going through a political crisis in which both EU and Russia play significant roles. Eastern European countries are very attentive on the situation.<br />
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Unrest and poverty in the world makes people try to migrate to Europe, both in legal and illegal, dangerous, ways. The pressure from migrants from outside has been stronger in the recent years. Many European countries resent welcoming immigrants, the fortress of Europe still plays a significant role.<br />
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The political leadership has in this relatively turbulent period often shown to be an issue between the &ldquo;old&rdquo; big European national powers like Germany, France, Great Britain, not the European institutions, and not an issue for the people in Europe to be included in for real. And behind the politicians is a whole system of investors and financial institutions increasing their capital and executing their power. So who leads in reality?<br />
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Throughout European history there have been many conflicts, politically and economically, though the recent years has shown relatively peaceful. A main issue is the role and the structure of the EU, because the EU will be the eventual body within which economic crisis, migration and refugees, conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, free trade agreement etc. will be dealt with, and still more countries, like Serbia and maybe still Turkey, are applying for membership.<br />
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There have been many protests, demonstrations from the people in Europe against the political and economic circumstances. The latest general ignorance of the EU parliamentary elections and a, hopefully temporary, support of far right movements are also signals of protests. To extrapolate the future it is vital to look to the people in Europe, their situation, their wishes and their readiness to take a stand or take to action.

Directive:

The task is set to 10 hours.<br />
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Read the introduction and the questions and make sure you understand the overall aim of the task.<br />
Read ALL the files.<br />
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How to use this task:<br />
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Variant 1.<br />
You can solve the task individually by answering all the questions in the form of a 3-page text.<br />
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Variant 2.<br />
You can solve the task commonly, where your teammates and you share different parts of the topic among yourselves and present to each other in a form of a course. The whole course with all the parts shouldn&rsquo;t exceed 2 hours.<br />
Each one of you will end up with a 1-page text about your part of the topic and the conclusion from your part of the course. All the materials you used for your part of the course should also be send to your teacher.<br />
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Use additional sources if you find it beneficial, especially if you have chosen the variant 2. The origin of additional sources must be noted for control.<br />
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Issues related to the topic:<br />
There are many files, select the ones you want to ponder, be inspired by the rest.
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">1.&nbsp; File 1: Democracy and governance<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 80px;">a. Three statements upon future political guidelines. Analyse and note the main similarities and main differences between the three.<br />
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b. From the two articles: What are the main questions in the relationship between politics and economics. What/who decides what will happen, and what the consequences of this?<br />
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c. Use the two articles to pond some causes for political, social reactions towards the political processes in EU. Evaluate the importance of this.</div>
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<div style="margin-left: 40px;">2.&nbsp; &nbsp;File 2: Politics, peace and war<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 80px;">a1. Note what the issues in the criticism. How should it be in the future?<br />
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a2. The three articles deal with the relationship between politics and economy, or the people and big business. Sum up from the three articles what seems to be the main claims/allegations about this relationship. What are the stated consequences of the current situation? What to do?&nbsp;<br />
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b. The two articles link NATO, Western countries, war and their specific global interests. State what are the core issues in the two articles, and what are their current and future implications. Are there any solutions to this?</div>
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<div style="margin-left: 40px;">3.&nbsp; &nbsp;File 3: Social welfare<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 80px;">a. The two articles deal with causes for poverty, non-welfare, and some principles for having welfare. Note the main causes mentioned and the principles for a kind of solution.</div>
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<div style="margin-left: 40px;">4.&nbsp; &nbsp;File 4: Out of the crisis<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 80px;">a. Sum up the articles, their analyses of the current approaches to come out of the crisis, and what should be done.</div>
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<div style="margin-left: 40px;">5.&nbsp; &nbsp;File 5: Towards a greener future?</div>

<p style="margin-left: 80px;">a. According to the article: What is the right green policy, and how does it differ from the current policy?</p>

<div style="margin-left: 40px;">6.&nbsp; &nbsp;File 6: Migrations<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 80px;">a. Sum up the arguments from the three articles: The main reasons for migration to Europe, eventual problems related to this, what could Europe and what could the migrants gain from the migration?<br />
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b. How come an extended migration from Europe? Is that a problem?</div>

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FILES:&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
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