The European Union I think ultimately is probably best understood as a phenomenon all on its own, that shares some DNA perhaps with international organizations such as NATO or NAFTA or the UN. But really goes much further in terms of restricting national sovereignty and in terms of requiring countries to abandon their national laws in favor of accepting rulings from Luxembourg, where the European Court of Justice is located.
Beate Sissenich is an assistant professor at Indiana University's Department of Political Science who teaches courses on the politics of reproductive health, the political economy of the European Union, and comparative public policy.
She studies the comparative politics of advanced industrialized countries, especially Europe, with a concentration on policy convergence and divergence.
She is the author of Building States without Society: European Union Enlargement and Social Policy Transfer to Poland and Hungary.
This episode of Profiles was produced in partnership with the European Union Center at Indiana University.