CIAO DATE: 03/2009

Solidarism or Pluralism? Political Ideas of the American Union and the European Union

February 2008

Centre for International Peace and Security Studies

Abstract

Writing in the late 18th century Edmund Burke characterized the British East India Company as "a state disguised as a merchant."1 What, in these terms, is the United States? Is it an empire disguised as a republic disguised as a democracy? What is Canada? Is it an international system disguised as a confederation disguised as a federation?2 What, finally, is the European Union? It is somewhat ambiguous. But I shall argue that it is an international organization thinly disguised as a political community.

Resource link: Solidarism or Pluralism? Political Ideas of the American Union and the European Union [PDF] - 318K