There are almost eight billion of us who live together on earth.
These 8 billion people live in around 200
separate countries, countries that constantly interact with each other,
for example through trade and travel. And some of these states have made special
agreements between them to cooperate more. The perhaps most famous union of states is the UN, or the United Nations. As many as 193 states are members of this international organisation. The UN’s main objectives are
securing international peace and strengthening friendship between countries. At other times, states cooperate so closely that they establish a new state, and the
most well-known example of this is perhaps the US. In the US, at the end of the 18th century,
some independent states on the North American east coast came together
and established a so-called federal state, which is a state consisting of several smaller states. Also in Europe,
several countries have entered into cooperation. The close collaboration between European countries is today known
as the European Union, and this is the collaboration
we’ll hear more about in this series of videos. The European Union, or
the EU, has 27 member states. These member states have decided to
collaborate in several areas. This collaboration means
that the states can help each other on important issues that
transcend borders. Collaboration between countries can be
particularly useful in times of crisis. Examples of crises that require
cross-border cooperation can be global virus pandemics,
financial crisis or refugee crisis. As this video series will demonstrate,
we basically have a Europe where several countries have surrendered parts of their
sovereignty to the EU- which has developed
to become a supranational organisation. A supranational organisastion can make binding decisions
for each member state. That means that when a country enters
a supranational organisation it surrenders its power to make decisions
in certain areas. On the other hand, member states get
the opportunity to strengthen a cooperation that can give them advantages in issues
that are of importance to them. Other regions in the world have been inspired by the
European model, among them Africa. Africa is a continent where several countries in recent history have been governed by
colonial powers. After the countries regained their
independence, most in the 1960s, they have in recent year wanted
more collaboration. The African countries have therefore formed a collaboration called the African Union. This cooperation is meant to
prevent war, increase trade, make it easier for people to
move from country to country. Perhaps not so different from the EU of today?