Democracy and Federalism in the European Union and the United States: Exploring Post-National Governance

by Sergio Fabbrini

Overview

The European Union - a supranational system with its own institutional characteristics and autonomy - has a structure and functional logic which are more similar to those of the US than those of European nation states. Yet, by and large, the EU and the US tend to be analyzed more as potential geopolitical and economic rivals or allies than compared as institutional peers.

By bringing together some of the most influential political scientists and historians to compare the European and American experiences of federalism, Democracy and Federalism in the European Union and the United States explores the future development, and seeks a better understanding, of a post-national European Union democracy. This book consists of three core parts:

• how the EU has developed and the implications of the process of European federalization
• the features of American federalism, tracing the intellectual debate that led to the approval of the American federal constitution in 1787
• the future of European Union.

This is essential reading for all students of European politics, democracy and international relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134315802
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/25/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	334 KB

About the Author

Sergio Fabbrini

Table of Contents

Preface About the authors Introduction Part 1: The EU from Federalist Projects to a Supranational Polity Part 2: Features and Problems of the US Federal Polity Part 3: Market, State and Social Rights in the EU and US Part 4: The Constitutional Challenges of a Supranational Polity

Editorial Reviews

This comparison between the institutions of the European Union and those of the United States, undertaken by a group of American and European political scientists, is stimulating and informative — perhaps because each chapter is short and organized around a small number of concepts and arguments. There are no great surprises. The authors show how different the American process of democratization and federalization has been from the European one, and how different the relations between state, market, and citizenry on the two sides of the Atlantic remain. In western Europe, Fabbrini writes, "the state has defined society as such"; in the United States, "it has done no more than regulate the dynamics of its growth." The authors are also quite realistic about the challenges the complex system of European governance faces. Although the EU is not just an intergovernmental confederation, as some theorists have claimed, it is a much poorer and weaker federal system than that found in the United States.

Foreign Affairs