| Abstract: | Since the end of World War II and most particularly since thelate 1970s, the world has been in the midst of a paradigm shiftfrom a world of states modeled after the idea of the nation-statedeveloped in the seventeenth century to a world of diminishedstate sovereignty and increasingly constitutionalized interstatelinkages of a federal character. This paradigm shift has beennoted by students of federalism and international relationsboth. It has been most strongly manifested in the economic sphere.Worldwide and regional economic arrangements have become essentialto the peace and prosperity of the world and, while formallyvoluntary, no state can remain outside of the increasingly moredemanding economic networks. Thus, those networks have acquiredan increasingly confederal dimension. Foremost among them isthat of Western Europe which, since the Maastricht Treaty, hasbeen transformed into a confederation in fact if not in name.Other arrangements approach the European Union in varying degrees.In this new paradigm, existing states will not disappear; rather,they will be overlaid by a variety of federal arrangements ofa confederal character that will tie them ever closer to eachother. |
