ABSTRACT

As a devout Europeanist I have followed what has been written on federalism in the European context for many decades now. The rise and fall of attention to federalism in the field of European Studies is noteworthy and often seems to correlate with the perceived ‘success’ of the European Union (EU) in moving toward deeper integration. Not so the work of Michael Burgess. Starting off with his doctoral dissertation on federalism in the 1970s, his work has continued to focus on federalism independent of the fads in the field. As such he has been one of the few scholars who have consistently kept their attention on questions related to understanding federalism in the European context and beyond. In fact, his timely publications contributed to getting the field to re-engage with federalism.