Thinking Federalist

Federalism and “False Friends”

“Federalism,” wrote the British constitutional lawyer A.V. Dicey in 1939, “substitutes litigation for legislation.” It was a chilling remark, but a useful reminder. In litigation as much as in legislation, precise wording is obviously vital; and translation in both is full of pitfalls. The best (...)

Thursday 8 February 2007

Enlarging the EU: Reframing the Issue

I believe that all European nations have an undeniable right to become a part of the European Union ultimately. West Germany did have a moral obligation to unite with East Germany after the Berlin Wall fell. The German re-unification has not brought the West Germany economic gain, yet no one (...)

Thursday 25 January 2007

World Federalism as a Catalyst for Human Evolution - part II

In the second part of this essay the author analyses the effects of the proposed UN Security Council reform from Part I by comparing and projecting the shift of power given by the nation-states to the EU on a global scale, which would ultimately lead to “perpetual peace”. The Way to Do It If we (...)

Thursday 28 December 2006

World Federalism as a Catalyst for Human Evolution - part I

The most pressing reasons for world federalism are to replace “might makes right” with international law and to help deal with transnational ecological and resource depletion issues. Only an international body can govern space and areas of the world where no nation has sovereignty. Especially (...)

Wednesday 27 December 2006

Expel the nation state to the history books !

The poor old nation state is being kicked at from above and below. After decades of globalization and European integration the old monarch’s sovereignty crown is not shining quite as brightly anymore. And within the castle it seems to be movement toward uprising with a majority of Scots now (...)

Thursday 14 December 2006

Four routes to the new Europe

A new Policy Commentary published by the Federal Trust evaluates the various plans produced for the future of the constitutional treaty during the “period of reflection”. There are four basic analyses upon which the different plans are based. 1. Abandon institutional reform, and focus on policy (...)

Tuesday 28 November 2006

The limits of the Euro-wide referendum

Since Maastricht in 1992, direct voting on EU issues has been on the increase. Starting off from a very limited number of countries ratifying only major institutional changes through referendums, there has been a wave of membership referendums in 2003 and several actual and announced (...)

Saturday 25 November 2006

Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Balkan region has been neglected by most federal scholars. While experts in conflict resolution and democratisation have been examining the countries of the former Yugoslavia in many ways, federal scholars have not been able to apply their theory to those countries. There are many reasons (...)

Thursday 16 November 2006

Pick your favorite federalism

Federalism is a fiction: -isms don’t translate into reality all that easily. The fallacy generally is this: invent an ingenious principle of government, and go on to claim it’s a catch-all solution. Being friends of Europe, federal-ism is our most beloved designer drug. But what’s the kick really? (...)

Tuesday 14 November 2006

EMI, UEF and JEF request an EU Foreign Minister

This Friday the Union of European Federalists (UEF), together with the European Movement International (EMI) and the Young European Federalists (JEF) handed over a statement in which three organisations express the urgent need for an EU Foreign Minister. The statement was handed over to (...)

Saturday 30 September 2006

JEF on Peace Day: Time for Europe to act for peace!

Europe is the world biggest peace project and indeed the creation of lasting peace was what motivated federalists after the Second World War to fight for the removal of European borders. But despite the success of the European peace project, the Balkan wars and the numerous armed conflicts (...)

Friday 29 September 2006

The Bilateral Way: Opportunism and “Rosinenpickerei”

Whilst Swiss people appreciate and celebrate the achievements of federalism within the country, they totally forget about it when acting internationally. There seem to be other principles ruling Switzerland’s European policy, more opportunist ones. Distrust and reluctance towards supra-national (...)

Monday 25 September 2006
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