The European Union at the crossroads of federalism and confederalism: An evaluation of the European Union's supranational structure

The economic and political integration process, initiated by Western European countries in the aftermath of World War II, has paved the way for the European Union, which is possessed of a complex and advanced political and institutional structure. Firstly, in this work the economic and political integration process in Europe is discussed with regard to the theories towards explaining and understanding it and relevant normative texts. Secondly, this work is intended to make a `diagnosis? on the European Union?s political system, as a product of the regional integration process in question. In doing this, federalism and confederalism, which are two prominent terms employed in political science literature to define structures of supranational state, are taken into account. In other words, the political and institutional edifice of the European Union is examined through the federalism/confederalism dichotomy within the context of the integration process.