As we’ve explored the dynamics of the United States, China, and Russia, it’s now time to turn our attention to the last of our superpower players: the European Union. This unique entity, straddling the line between statehood and international organization, represents a crucial force in today’s global landscape, navigating the complexities of a multipolar world with its collective strength and strategic alliances.
The European Union represents one of the most unique and influential actors in the current-day international arena. It’s neither a state nor merely an international organization—it’s a blend of both. Above all, it is the only way the single European countries have found to survive and thrive in an increasingly multipolar world.

By choosing to feature the EU as a unified superpower rather than focusing on individual European nations, World Order reflects the actual reality of a continent-turned-bloc that increasingly acts as a cohesive force in world affairs, very often alongside the United States to protect the interests of the so-called West.

Today, the EU increasingly operates as a unified bloc, particularly in areas like trade, diplomacy, and security, though internal differences remain and can be challenging to resolve. However, when negotiating trade deals, addressing global issues such as climate change and terrorism, or responding to international crises like the war in Ukraine, the EU has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to achieve majority-based consensus, and sometimes even unanimity.

In World Order, players who choose the EU can leverage the advantages of being a multi-country bloc, from producing vast amounts of wealth and goods to securing investments, and, by doing so, experience what it looks like to be a superpower.

In real life, the EU is the world’s largest economic and labor common market and has the third-largest GDP after the US and China. This economic strength has provided the EU with substantial leverage in global trade and finance, allowing to influence institutions and markets as well as to set standards that other countries often follow, from data protection to AI, with the result that some political scientists have arrived to call the EU the “normative power”. In World Order, the EU is realistically designed as an economic powerhouse and players can take advantage of its status to sign trade agreements, secure investments, and enhance the EU’s global competitiveness.

But the EU’s influence extends far beyond economy, finance, and norms. Its prowess in soft power—the ability to shape values, behaviors, and preferences through culture, art, fashion, and history rather than force—is another area where the EU truly excels. The EU’s commitment to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, combined with its world-extended cultural and educational network, has made it a model for other powers, even the US, and a first-class actor in global governance.
In World Order, just like in real life, the EU is able to leverage its unmatched soft power endowment to achieve many purposes: build alliances, promote prosperity, and gain influence in key regions, such as the non-EU Balkans and the Russian-influenced Eastern Europe-Caucasus-Central Asia triangle.

This strong emphasis on the EU as a soft power projector reflects the EU’s real-world foreign policy strategy and behavior in international affairs. Indeed, rather than relying on military force, also known as hard power, the EU often and mostly uses diplomacy, economic aid, development cooperation, and cultural appeal to achieve its foreign policy objectives. The above ensemble of soft power instruments has allowed the EU, and the EEC before it, to play a key role in international diplomacy, from mediating conflicts to rebuilding war-torn countries, without having an army – an accomplishment that only the Holy See has been able to achieve, historically. In World Order, players who choose the EU can understand that victory can be achieved by winning hearts and minds more frequently than most people believe. In fact, they will have the chance to experience the EU’s unique nature as a soft power giant by using their vast arsenal of non-military resources, from consumer goods to diplomatic attractiveness, to achieve their foreign policy goals without resorting to military means.

But the EU is not only about economic power, diplomatic influence and cultural attractiveness. Indeed, one of the most defining features of the EU, in both reality and World Order, is its close coordination with the US and other Western allies. This relation, often dubbed the transatlantic partnership, has been the cornerstone of European peace and an influential force in world affairs since the end of World War II. Whether through NATO, the G7, or other international forums, the EU and the US often act in concert, shaping the global order in ways that reflect their collective interests – and that have encouraged Russia, China and others to team up and form an anti-Western bloc.

In World Order, players can and must take advantage of the transatlantic bond by coordinating with the US player to achieve their different but similar strategic objectives or to play a common game. The option for the EU player to form an alliance with the US player reflects the real-world dynamics of EU-US relations. These two powers, often considered pillars of the broader Western alliance, frequently collaborate to tackle challenges and threats they perceive as shared concerns. Whether it’s responding to aggression from other forces, managing international trade disputes, or tackling issues like climate change, terrorism, and cybersecurity, the EU and the US are frequently on the same side, reinforcing each other’s positions and amplifying their global reach.
In conclusion, the EU’s presence in World Order offers players an edutainment-like experience, since it reflects the real-world dynamics of a fragmented-but-united Europe which sometimes acts as a single superpower and most times acts as the minor brother of the US.

 In World Order, as in reality, the EU’s uniqueness lies in its ability to act as a cohesive force although is internally divided, using economic might, diplomatic skills, soft power, and like-minded Western allies to shape the world without war, which is, definitely, not something that most powers can do. Whether it’s about teaming up with the US to better confront Russia and China, project influence over the Balkans and the MENA region, or promoting prosperity in the competition-rich Global South, playing as the EU can provides gamers with an “edutational” experience full of lessons about geopolitics, strategy, and international politics. Achieving victory as the EU requires a strategic approach that balances domestic focus with near abroad protection, ensuring that the EU isn’t crushed by Russia’s pressure from east and south. 

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