The European Union is not a
military alliance, like 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,” wherein governmental
sovereignty is split between federal and state levels, rather than confederalism,
wherein all such sovereignty is retained by the states. Both the U.S. and E.U.
instantiate modern federal systems, although ironically the U.S. was originally
a confederal system of sovereign states. In likening the E.U. to NATA in 2023, President
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."