Flags, gathering symbols
We live a period where, paradoxically, more and more states are gathering into larger bodies and where the total number of national States goes growing.
The first integration movement touches all continents: NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations), MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market), EU (European Union), AU (African Union) etc. It expresses a national prerogative reduction to the benefit of collegiate authorities. The second tendency results from empire collapse (former USSR) or conflicts (former Yugoslavia, Timor etc.) creating new sovereignties.
These two opposite movements globally generated a growing number of national and transnational flags, which are exceeding two hundred today. Nevertheless, these symbols of gathering at the national and international level constitute the congruent left of the vast fan of flags, standards, banners, swallow-tailed pennon, triangular pennon etc. representative of regions, cities and communes, of military and civil instances, of corporate bodies and so on. As many of gathering emblems that contain plenty of symbols of which only the most meaningful will be studied here.