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...

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...

Why is America contested by Europeans? The book seeks to answer this question and contribute to a better understanding of contemporary transatlantic tensions.
Adopting different theoretical perspectives, the contributors to this volume assess the European discontent with America and relate this to the unilateral turn of US foreign policy in the 2000s. American unilateralism is interpreted by all the authors as the expression of a new conservative nationalism which has been growing in the country since the 1970s and became culturally hegemonic after 9/11. This cultural hegemony found an...

Why is America contested by Europeans? The book seeks to answer this question and contribute to a better understanding of contemporary transatlantic tensions.
Adopting different theoretical perspectives, the contributors to this volume assess the European discontent with America and relate this to the unilateral turn of US foreign policy in the 2000s. American unilateralism is interpreted by all the authors as the expression of a new conservative nationalism which has been growing in the country since the 1970s and became culturally hegemonic after 9/11. This cultural hegemony found an...

Based on an analytical evaluation of both the weaknesses and strengths of the Italian political system, Italy in the European Union is the first book to offer a detailed and comprehensive description of Italy's contribution to European Union policy-making. The contributors to this volume systematically explore the role played by Italian institutional and noninstitutional actors in several decision-making processes. They show how Italian institutional actors define and promote national policy preferences that are compatible with those of the other European member states. However, the book...

This text analyses the most widespread criticisms of American democracy. Clearing away the misunderstandings and prejudices that cloud contemporary debates about America, it brings out the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the American democratic experience.

* A brilliant analysis of the distinctive nature of American democracy and of the criticisms that have been leveled at it. * The framing of the analysis around the theme of anti-Americanism is very topical and would appeal to a potentially wider audience.

This is a major new comparison of the American and European political systems. By deploying a powerful new model to analyze the two systems it draws some challenging conclusions about their increasing similarity. Professor Fabbrini argues that the process of regional integration in Europe over the last 60 years, has significantly reduced the historical differences between the democracies on either side of the Atlantic. The EU and the US are now similar because they represent two different species of the same political genus: the compound democracy.
The defining feature of compound...

Sergio Fabbrini argues that the European Union (EU) is made up of states pursuing different aims, rather than simply moving in the same direction at different speeds. He describes the alternative perspectives on the EU (an economic community, an intergovernmental union, and a parliamentary union), that led to multiple compromises in its structure and shows how the Euro crisis has called them into question. The book argues that a new European political order is necessary to deal with the consequences of the crisis, based on an institutional differentiation between the EU member states...