Our Love for the European Union: But Is It an International Organization?

Abstract

In his paper on ‘The Love for International Organizations’, Jean d’Aspremont mentions a number of drivers behind the scholarly interest in the phenomenon of international organizations. Inspired by that paper, the present contribution argues that the European Union is an attractive object of study because it allows us to locate power and because the Union’s creation may have helped to build a unique cooperation among European states. Perhaps more than the drivers suggested by d’Aspremont, this contribution addresses the unclear, ever-changing and complex identity or nature of the EU as a reason for the affection both authors admittedly have for the EU. The paper revisits the classic question of whether the EU can be seen as an international organization and argues that any claims pointing to a sui generis nature of the EU do not seem to be very helpful.