Brexit: It's all about Empire, Federation or Community
Some of the criticism of the EU from people against it is that it has a central ruling elite who are disconnected from the everyday population. This makes it sound like an empire but is it actually a valid criticism? And what is the gulf that separates the UK and the European Union? Throughout the ages we have had empires from the Chinese, Roman, Ottoman, British and a plethora of others. The point about an empire is that its population is ' culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial (ruling) ethnic group and its culture '. It is contrasted to a federation, which is a ' union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ' or a community which is a ' social unit that has something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity '. To consider the European Union some form of imperial empire one needs to consider it from a phenomenological point of view. I would argue that the approach i...