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Comparative Federalism meets the European Union

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  • Tanja A. Boerzel
  • Madeleine O. Hosli

Abstract

In the current debate on the future European order, the European Union is often described as an emerging federation. The paper claims that federalism is not only useful in deliberating about the future of the European Union. It provides a better understanding of the current structure and functioning of the European system of multilevel governance than most theories of European integration. We combine political and economic perspectives of federalism to analyze the balancing act between effective political representation and efficient policy-making in the European Union. Drawing on the examples of Germany and Switzerland in particular, we argue that the increasing delegation of powers to the central EU level needs to be paralleled by either strengthened patterns of fiscal federalism or an empowered representation of functional interests at the European level. Without such "re-balancing", the current legitimacy problems of EU are likely to get worse.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanja A. Boerzel & Madeleine O. Hosli, 2002. "Comparative Federalism meets the European Union," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0007, University of Hamburg, Faculty for Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:erp:conweb:p0007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alina Ligia Dumitrescu, 2013. "The Fiscal Federalism And The Good Economic Governance In European Union," Global Economic Observer, "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Sciences;Institute for World Economy of the Romanian Academy, vol. 1(2), pages 25-33, November.
    2. Vassilis Monastiriotis, 2008. "Quo Vadis Southeast Europe? EU Accession, Regional Cooperation and the need for a Balkan Development Strategy," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 10, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.

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    Keywords

    federalism; multilevel governance; multilevel governance; political representation; interest representation; democracy;
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