ABSTRACT
This question, central to modern theories of international cooperation, takes on particular significance in the case of the EC because of the uniquely rich set of institutions it has evolved. The EC comprises four major branches: the Council of Ministers, an intergovernmental decision-making body that routinely legislates by qualified majority vote; the Commission, a powerful technocratic secretariat with formal agenda-setting powers in many areas; the Parliament, a directly elected assembly with more limited powers than any national equivalent but greater influence than any international counterpart; and the Court of Justice, a constitutional court in some ways more powerful than those of many national systems. These institutions transcend the coordinating rules and administrative secretariats found in most international organizations; they manifestly impinge on national sovereignty.
