Fiction
In the fictional universe of Eric Flint's best selling alternate history 1632 series, a United States of Europe is formed out of the Confederation of Principalities of Europe, which was composed of several German political units of the 1630s.
Science fiction has made particular use of the idea: Incompetence, a dystopian novel by Red Dwarf creator Rob Grant, is a murder mystery political thriller set in a federated Europe of the near-future, where stupidity is a constitutionally protected right. References to a European Alliance or European Hegemony have also existed in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994). In the "Spy High" series of books for young adults, written by A. J. Butcher and set around the 2060s, a united Europe exists in the form of 'Europa' and in Andrew Roberts's 1995 book The Aachen Memorandum details a United States of Europe formed from a fraudulent referendum entitled the Aachen Referendum.
Since the 2000s a number of computer strategy games set in the future have presented a unified European faction alongside other established military powers such as the US and Russia. These include Euro Force, a 2006 expansion pack to Battlefield 2, and Battlefield 2142 (also released in 2006, with a 2007 expansion pack). In Battlefield 2142 a united Europe is shown as one of the two great superpowers on Earth, the other being Asia, despite being mostly frozen in a new ice age. The disaster theme continues with Tom Clancy's EndWar (2009) there a nuclear war between Iran and Saudi Arabia destroying the Middle Eastern oil supply prompts the EU to integrate further as the European Federation in 2018. The only game not to make bold claims of full integration is Shattered Union (2005); set in a future civil war in the US with the European Union is portrayed as a peacekeeping force. The video game series Wipeout on the other hand makes a clear federal reference without a military element: one of the core teams that has appeared in every game is FEISAR. This acronym stands for Federal European Industrial Science And Research.
Read more about this topic: United States Of Europe
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“... any fiction ... is bound to be transposed autobiography.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)