ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the current predicament of the EU under attack from nationalism within and from without. The European sovereign debt crisis has midwifed Brexit and Euro-sceptic populism and the prospect of EU disintegration through resurgence of nationalism. The battle is about who has and should have how much sovereignty. The chapter introduces the concept of syndicated sovereignty and polycentric governance in overlapping spheres of authority rather than multi-level policy-making. The democratic deficit (or disconnect), alternative models such as ‘demoi-cracy’, transnational democracy and multilateral democracy are reviewed against the backdrop of Rodrik’s trilemma of the world economy pitting globalisation, democracy and national sovereignty against each other. The EU’s specific ways of organising sovereignty, international law (EU law) and the single market in the EU are explained to show that they constitute a new form of constitutionalised multilateralism with polycentric characteristics which has proved resilient through multiple crises.
