Preliminary communication
European alternatives
Eugen Pusić
; full member of the Croatian academy of sciences and arts
Abstract
The negative out come of the referenda about the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands have, apparently, put the alternative between the transformation of Europe in a federative State and its remaining an international organization in to sharper focus. The argument in this paper is that this alternative is less sharp than it might appear. The European Union is an evolving proces that keeps both alternatives open. Europe could move simultaneously towards tighter structures in some fields and towards greater elasticity and adaptivenes in others: security, regulation, public services, social benefits, increasing capacity for economic competition, better ability to face new global challenges. Work done about the govenance of multi level territorial systems, particularly in the German and American traditions, is compared from the point of view of the problem-solving capacity of multi level systems under conditions of bargaining and loose coupling among its levels. This capacity, in the final analysis, is more important than the formal attributes of the European construction.
Keywords
European Union – federation or international organisation; Constitution of the European Union; cooperation and conflict; globalisation; multilevel political systems and governance
Hrčak ID:
135361
URI
Publication date:
7.9.2007.
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