Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the recent European Union Essay

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the recent European Union treaties such as the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Treaty fo Nice, and the EU Constitution, which w - Essay Example Membership in the European Union is advantageous to all members because the EU represents the best of the European democratic tradition and is an expression of its constituent members. As a multinational organization, the EU represents various national interests within an overarching political framework. The EU is a multilateral organization which operates on the basis of negotiation between member states and relies on collective decision making to achieve its ends. Members are joined together and bound by treaties signifying their participation within the larger EU political framework. The political decisions of member-states are thus constrained by their allegiance and signatory status to overarching EU treaties (Almond et al. 455-6). Although it has not always been the case, modern-day Europe is characterized by a unifying democratic political culture. While the concept of democracy originated on its shores, the philosophy of democratic governance was challenged in 20th century Europe by authoritarian political movements, including fascism (expressed by Nazi Germany & Mussolini’s Italy), and communism (as exemplified in Eastern Europe during the Cold War). With Allied victory in World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union, democracy became a universal trend amongst European states. In fact liberal democracy, best expressed by the states of Western Europe with entrenched democratic traditions, is quickly becoming the standard for the continent (Almond et al. 26-53). Democratic norms and rules have subsequently been established through a pan-European legal framework, the European Union. Two early treaties established the normative, and inherently democratic, framework for today’s EU. The Treaty of Rome, signed in March of 1957, proposed a common European economic market throughout the European Economic Community.

Refraction of Light Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Refraction of Light - Research Paper Example Refraction refers to the property by which light bends when it travels from rarer to a denser or from a denser to a rarer medium. If a ray of light is travelling from a denser to a rarer medium, say from glass to air it bends away from the normal. If the ray of light travels from a rarer to a denser medium, it bends towards the normal. The phenomenon of refraction of light is governed by laws known as Laws of Refraction. When a ray of light traverses from one medium to another, the direction and the angle by which it bends is determined by these laws. The first law of refraction states that the incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal all lie in the same plane (Walker et al, 2010) The second law is prime factor for determining the direction of the refracted ray. This law is popularly known as Snell’s law. According the this law the direction of the refracted ray depends on the ratio of speed of light in the two mediums. Light travels with different speeds in different mediums. Most materials have refractive indices of their own which primarily depends on the wavelength of light. The refractive index of any material is given by the ratio of the speed of light travelling of light in that medium by the speed of light travelling in vacuum. Optically dense medium are those that have a high refractive index while those materials whose refractive indices are almost near to 1 are known as optically rare media (Haynes, 2014) When light travels from a medium of higher refractive index to a medium of lower refractive index, the path taken by the light rays is dependent on the angle of incidence. If the angle of incidence exceeds beyond a certain value the refracted ray does not travel to another medium but in fact returns back into the same medium. This phenomenon is known as total internal reflection and the angle of incidence is known as the critical angle. Critical angle is also known as the limit angle and is defined as the angle