en/politics/constitution.txt
2004-06-21
Constitutions and countries
Some people think that only countries have constitutions. I find that strange, since both write at Planet Debian; surely, Debian is not a country!
[Update: As hinted in the comments, I did not get MJR's posting. My bad. Let it be known here that he expresses roughly the same argument I presented above.]
In fact, the European Union is a country. It has a bicameral parliament
(the council of ministers is sufficiently upper-house-like to qualify as one
IMHO), a currency it governs, a passport, and it is the highest authority
inside its borders. It is an unusual country in that its meber states
have broad powers, but it is a country nonetheless. It possesses all four
of the defining properties of statehood according to the Montevideo
convention: The state as a person of international law should possess
the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined
territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the
other states.
The first three are uncontroversial, and though the fourth
is weak, it is present.
(Okay, that last paragraph is controversial, and I know the arguments are not airtight, but I do believe the case is valid.)
22:24 - /en/politics - 4 comments
