WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN UNION?

Different Approaches

Comparative Approach If the debate over how the EU evolved was dominated by scholars of international relations, the debate over what the EU has become have increasingly dominated by scholars of comparative politics. This approach helps us describe political systems, and gives us context and points of reference. It is based on approaching the EU as a political system in its own right, with its own institutions, processes, procedures, and policies. Should we approach the EU as a system of government (a system of formal structures), or use the looser term governance (administration without the existence of formal structures) to understand its procedures? The term multi-level governance has won some support.

Federation vs. Confederation Federalism has been given short shrift as a means of understanding the EU, partly because there is so much resistance to the idea of a federal Europe. A federation is a system of administration involving two or more levels of government with autonomous powers. An alternative approach is confederalism (an administrative system in which state come together in areas where it makes sense to cooperate but keep the balance of powers for themselves). But there are few historical examples of confederalism at work. One compromise may be to think of the EU as a hybrid federal-confederal system of administration.

Federation vs. Confederation