The EU as an innovative force for global governance

Abstract

The EU has outgrown the Westphalian system of international relations. In its present form, the EU is neither a state nor an association of states. It can be described instead in new terms as a democratic union of democratic states, which operates on the global stage as a democratic international organisation. Although it is far from perfect, the EU demonstrates that perpetual peace and effective global governance are not only thinkable but also practicable. While the modern state system of centuries past elevated the principle of absolute state sovereignty as the exclusive dogma of international relations, the world needs a new paradigm to address the global challenges of the twenty-first century. Academics from relevant disciplines, notably lawyers, political theorists, historians and philosophers, are called upon to undertake an interdisciplinary endeavour to devise a new template for the multilateral era.