Contrary to popular belief, the world is not only separated into countries and continents, the world can also be separated into groupings that work to protect and enhance their economies, their level of development and also the social status of their home. The European Union, NAFTA and the World Trade Organisation are all examples of these groupings.
One of the primary reasons for the introduction of social and economic groupings was to create an economic system called a ‘single market’ which is where in the group, each country has control over a particular resource so that they can have a stable income and also so that if there is unrest between the countries they don’t instantly go to war because if the country the instigator. For example, if Germany was in control of iron within the EU and there was conflict between Germany and Italy then the Italians would not go to war because the Germans have control of the metal for the weapons that they need. This was in fact the first task of the EU, to create a single market so that there was the free circulation of goods, capital, people and services within it. Thanks to the introduction of the Euro in 1999, the economic integration was successful and this also annihilated the issues of the exchange rates and made trade much easier.
While the free market is a large benefit to the countries within the trade union, there can be some degree of unrest with those countries that are not involved
After considering the evidence I believe I can confidently state that there is an important role served by groupings of nations especially when it is related to the global economy. While they do have their positives and negatives, the benefits, in my opinion, greatly out-weigh the problems with the groupings and I think that these groups of nations serve a vital role in the world today.