The processes of building the United States of America since the late-eighteenth century and the European Union since mid-twentieth century are among the major claims for the possibility of a vast, continental-size polity based on democratic principles. While the European Union project is still full of uncertainties, the previous experience of building the United States of America offers the best reference for advancing towards a democratic federation.

In this new volume from the Economic Studies Series of the Research Department of ”la Caixa”, Josep M. Colomer shows that the territorial limits of the European Union, like those of the American Union in the past, are not determined by geography or destiny but reflect the union’s capacity to assimilate and institutionalize its components. Building an empire from previously existing states implies renouncing a single source of sovereignty in favour of dividing power among multiple levels of government.

Josep M. Colomer is an elected member of the Academia Europaea and a life member of the American Political Science Association. Author of more than thirty books in six languages.
 

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