Joining a group means taking some responsibility for its governance and good running. Too many politicians use Brussels as a scapegoat, rather than something th

Joining a group means taking some responsibility for its governance and good running. Too many politicians use Brussels as a scapegoat, rather than something they own a piece of. So in so far as continentalism refers to an agglomeration of different peoples trying to speak with one voice, like US, China, Russia, EU - the thing only works if people don't get too cynical about the centre. I don't think there's much alternative to joining a larger political entity if you're​ geographically near one, given what we know about economic links and distances. A possible advantage of something like the EU is that it doesn't have a cohesive enough identity to think nationalistically and get into trouble that way.