The Federal Vision: Legitimacy and Levels of Governance in the United States and the European Union

by Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Editor), Robert Howse (Editor)

Based on a transatlantic dialogue between scholars, this work addresses the complex and changing relationship between levels of governance within the United States and the European Union. It examines modes of governance on both sides, analyzing the ramifications of the legitimacy crisis in our multi-layered democracies and moving beyond the current policy debates over "devolution" and "subsidiarity." Its authors believe that in spite of the fundamental differences between them, both the EU and the US are in the process of re-defining a federal vision for the twenty-first century.

556 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Kalypso Aude Nicolaïdis is a Franco-Greek academic and Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, where she also directs the Center for International Studies. Her teaching focuses on European integration, international relations, political economy, and negotiation theory. In 2020, she became a full-time professor at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute. She has published widely in leading journals and co-edited several books on European identity, normative power, and post-colonial legacies.