Objective How should political power be divided within and among national peoples? Can the nineteenth-century theory of the sovereign and unitary State be applied to the social reality of the word of the twenty-first century? If not, what constitutional and philosophical theories can make sense of the empirical and normative world of our times? The rise of international organizations and, within Europe: the emergence of the European Union, have challenged the idea of the sovereign state ever since the end of the Second World War. And, in a seemingly paradoxical parallel, the myth of monolithic state power has equally come under attack from within states. Indeed: many modern states currently experience a political and constitutional devolution (Italy, Spain, United Kingdom).Can we identify these developments with federal theory? Federalism is a philosophical and a constitutional problem. The federal principle has made a long ‘journey through time in quest of a meaning’ (SR Davis). Modern federalism emerged with the rise of the European State system. And in the nineteenth century, the federal idea became reduced to the idea of the Federal State. In the light of this reductionism, international centralisation and regional decentralisation continue to be – largely – misunderstood by mainstream European legal scholarship. The proposed project would fill this gap by providing a comparative constitutional analysis of the federal principle. It will analyse the historical evolution of the principle from the eighteenth to the twenty century in the first part, and concentrate on three contemporary experiences of “dividing” or “sharing” sovereignty in the second. The three case studies of (neo)federalism in the 21st century correspond to three legal sphere: the international sphere (United Nations, World Trade Organisation), the supranational sphere (European Union, NAFTA), and the regional sphere (Spain, United Kingdom). Fields of science social scienceslawinternational lawsocial sciencessociologyglobalizationhumanitiesphilosophy, ethics and religionphilosophypolitical philosophy Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-SH2 - ERC Starting Grant - Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour Call for proposal ERC-2012-StG_20111124 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM EU contribution € 909 661,93 Address STOCKTON ROAD THE PALATINE CENTRE DH1 3LE Durham United Kingdom See on map Region North East (England) Tees Valley and Durham Durham CC Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Wendy Harle (Ms.) Principal investigator Robert Schuetze (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM United Kingdom EU contribution € 909 661,93 Address STOCKTON ROAD THE PALATINE CENTRE DH1 3LE Durham See on map Region North East (England) Tees Valley and Durham Durham CC Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Wendy Harle (Ms.) Principal investigator Robert Schuetze (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data