On this planet, there are somewhere around
200 different countries and country-like territories, in each country there’s generally a distinct
government, language, currency, immigration and visa policy, passport, and everything. In addition, if you have that country’s
passport, then that means you are a citizen of that country, which means that country’s
government will allow you to stay, live, work, and study in that country for however long
you’d like, but try to get a job in another country and even after converting currencies,
plug types, address formats, and all that, you will still need a special permit from
the government of that country to actually be allowed to remain and work there. In addition, if a particular government wants
to solve an issue affecting the world or region, chances are they‘ll need a lot of help getting
other governments to listen. This however isn’t always the case, especially
in the world’s multinational political and economic unions, many of which I’ve already
talked about here on the channel, so what are these international unions and how many
are there? First we begin with probably the most well
known multinational union, the European Union. Comprising 27 countries on the continent of
Europe, the European Union was established as the European Coal and Steel Community in
1951 by 6 founding members in the wake of the deadliest conflict in human history, gradually
expanding and transforming from a mere economic union to a full-on political union where member
countries’ citizens can freely move to and even seek work in any of the others without
worrying about visas. In this spirit, a somewhat radical concept
was established in 1995 in the form of the Schengen Area, a large bloc of 26 countries
that have completely done away with any sort of border control between them, and as such
they have also adopted their own joint visa policy (which in this situation really makes
sense). The EU is also famous for the Euro, a singular
currency made to ease trade and symbolize the connection between these countries, though
it hasn’t always been met with flying economic success in its early days. On the fringes of the EU is the European Economic
Area, basically a DLC to the EU which includes Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and means
they’re kind of like EU members (mainly in freedom of movement), but they don’t
get a voice in parliament, though they don’t have to follow all the laws said parliament
passes. These countries all also participate in Schengen,
which is why the citizens’ line when going through immigration at a Schengen airport
reads “European Union/European Economic Area/Confoederatio Helvetica”, which is
to say Switzerland, since they also participate in Schengen. Though it is by far the most successful in
achieving these kinds of goals amongst its members (at least aside from unions that themselves
became countries, I guess) the European Union isn’t the only of these kinds of unions
however, as one other notable continental union immediately to the south is the African
Union, formed only in 2002 and based in Addis Ababa and Durban, South Africa, the African
Union-- though it might not have yet achieved as much as the European Union has in Europe--
does comprise a membership of every single country in Africa (with Morocco finally joining
in 2017, after disputes regarding the membership of the Western Saharan Polisario Front, but
that’s a story for a whole other time). The goals of the African Union are-- among
other things-- to achieve unity, territorial integrity, and promote peace and stability
among African nations, and promote and defend African interests on the world stage. One other goal is to establish an African
Economic Community by 2023, with a singular currency they’re thinking of calling the
Afro (or maybe Afriq), and also an African Central Bank by 2028. Africa is currently home to numerous different
economic unions, such as ECOWAS, ECCAS, and several others, as well as many customs unions
such as the South African Customs Union (by the way, a customs union is essentially similar
to what the Schengen Area is for immigration in Europe, just for customs, so there aren’t
any tariffs or restrictions for things traveling between member nations). In the north of Africa though, and throughout
the Arab countries of the Middle East lies the Arab League, a regional organization between
Arabic governments founded in 1945 to promote Arabic interests and mediate in disputes between
members. Of course within the Arab League there are
also organizations such as the Gulf Cooperation Council between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman,
Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar (though do note there’s some drama going on with Qatar that
we don’t have time for here). The GCC is classified as a trade bloc, and
also features things like freedom of movement, allowing citizens of these countries to enter
without a visa and even just with their national ID card. On the western side of the Arab League however
is the Arab Maghreb Union, comprising Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania,
together forming the region known as the Maghreb, from the Arabic term “al-maghrib (المغرب)”
meaning “the west”. The AMU is an organization created to establish
economic ties and a common market between the five countries, but which as been somewhat
dormant as of late. Going northeast, out of the 15 countries of
the former Soviet Union, 9 of them are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(all except the Baltics, Ukraine and Georgia, with Turkmenistan as a mere observer state). The CIS is an intergovernmental organization
meant to facilitate trade, cooperation, and prevention of crime between these republics,
established literally right after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The members of the CIS (minus Azerbaijan and
plus Ukraine) are also part of the CIS Free Trade Area, or CISFTA, simply a free trade
area between these countries, and five of said countries are also part of the Eurasian
Economic Union, featuring a common market among its member states. Lastly in this group is the Union State of
Russia and Belarus, which is basically an agreement between the two countries to allow
their citizens total freedom of movement across that now porous 1,240 km border. South America is also full of these such organizations,
one of which is Mercosur, a trade bloc amongst four South American countries, plus seven
associated members. I already made a whole video about Mercosur,
and although its member states do allow citizens of other members and associates to live and
work in their countries after passing a background check, the bloc only truly encompasses the
eastern part of South America, for the western part we also have the Andean Community, another
trade bloc, this time between Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, and with the goal of establishing
a customs union between the four. Also as you may know from my passports video,
these countries also have a common passport color scheme going on between them. So that’s most of the multinational unions
of this type out there, though not all, with the noticeable exclusion of Caricom and ASEAN
(as well as many others), all of whom I’ve made videos about, so I’ll link those in
the info cards if you want to learn more about them. In fact, there are easily enough of these
unions to talk about that I might make a part two about some of the lesser known unions,
if this video does well enough (which judging from the topic it probably will, but still). Thanks as always for watching, if you want
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