The European Union is not a military alliance like the contemporary NATO or the ancient Spartan League. Nor is the E.U. merely a free-trade agreement like NAFTA. In terms of the history of federalism, the E.U. instantiates “modern federalism” rather than confederalism. Whereas all of the sovereignty lies in the members in the latter, governmental sovereignty is split between the head and its members in modern federalism. Both the U.S. and E.U. instantiate modern federal systems, although the U.S. originally instantiated a confederal system. In likening the E.U. to NATA, Erdogan of Turkey unwittingly committed a category mistake. This in turn weakened his attempt to leverage his power in approving Sweden as a country in NATO with his demand that the E.U. admit Turkey as a state.
The full essay is at "Turkey's President Enables Euroskeptic Ideologues."
