ABSTRACT
The politics of European unification has led to the establishment of international organizations that are unique in the history of cooperation between states in times of peace. First, these organizations are unique because they have executive organs-such as the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Central Bank (ECB) of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)—with independent powers vis-àvis the member states, in which decisions are taken by majority vote. Second, they are unique because, in the Council of Ministers of the EEC and the European Union (EU), in certain domains decisions are taken by qualified majority vote (QMV) that are binding upon all the member states, even those that actually voted against them. These supranational organizations are distinctive in another respect as well. When, in the summer of 1952, the High Authority began its activities, it was the very first executive organ of an international organization with independent powers. Moreover, their evident success in “rescuing the European nation-state” notwithstanding,1 supranational organizations have remained very rare in the international system. Even in Europe itself there have only been two ‘qualitative leaps’ in this respect: the ECSC and EMU. The overwhelming majority of organizations facilitating cooperation between states are still intergovernmental in nature.
