Interesting post. Pre EU Belgium was the entry point into Europe for multinationals. Belgium tried to solve its internal divisions by welcoming a foreign presence. Many MNCs had their Europe headquarters there and perhaps many still do.
Canada also welcomed foreign ownership with many branch plants of mainly US firms operating here. And lots of economic activity was generated in this way. It led to an outcome that the numbers alone don't show: A branch plant economy has less R and D, less innovation, less of a local managerial class (and less contributions to the arts, less concern for local civic matters, etc., and so govt plays a larger role in this area). Managing the French English division has been tricky over the years and trade offs have been made to keep the country together. The relatively recent presence of non-European immigration in large numbers also changes things. The second language in some parts of Canada is not French but is one of the languages of India or China or Viet Nam, etc. And so Canada has embraced multi-culturalism. So nation building and maintenance is a dynamic concept and over time it may be as you suggest there will be a devolution with many new groupings formed along with many new parliaments. Would such an outcome be "good" or "bad?" Arthur From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 4:35 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION Subject: [Futurework] The English want it, too! It is piquant to observe that the country which houses the Commissioners of a 'United' Europe is itself dividing into two halves. The decades-old cultural division between a dynamic, secession-seeking Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north of Belgium and an economically lagging French-speaking Wallonia in the south is now growing so wide that Belgians have been unable to form a government for the past eight months, only a caretaker committee. Already downgraded for this reason by Standard & Poor from AAA credit status to AA+ (a euphemism if there ever was one!), it is going to be downgraded further unless they buck themselves up in the next six months. Under this threat they'll probably manage to for the time being, but when the super nation-state of the European Union itself starts breaks up not too long hence, Belgium will follow pretty quickly one imagines. (And what about Spain, too, with its Basque and Catalan would-be separatists? And other European counties with strong devolution tendencies? And, now that the UK has hived-off Scotland and Wales, increasing numbers of English people now want their own Parliament!) Keith P.S. And I can envisage America dividing into an English-speaking and Spanish-speaking halves in due course. And has Canada quite solved its own problem? Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2010/12/
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