INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION - A POLITICAL-GEOGRAPHY OF THE EUROPEAN-UNION

In the 40 years since the Treaty of Rome, we have witnessed a Europe t hat has become increasingly economically and politically integrated. H owever, just as that integration is producing a form of united Europe, it is also fostering a new interest in the decentralization of power. This article describes the moves towards integration and disintegrati on in the European Union (EU) today and discusses the implications of those trends for the future of the sovereign state. Spain, France, and the United Kingdom are used as examples of the way in which regions a nd political parties have been affected by the process of European int egration and of how regions are beginning to use the European Union's financial and political resources to wrest power from the core states.