Perspectives on Federalism is a free on-line peer-reviewed journal, promoted by the Centre for Studies on Federalism.

1. The Austrian Bundesrat – Imperfect and Unreformed
(Peter Bußjäger/Essay)

According to many legal and political scientists the Austrian Bundesrat is generally considered to be a paradigmatic example of a politically and legally weak second chamber embedded in a strongly centralised ...

2. Constitutional and administrative paradigms in judicial control over EU high and low politics
(Pola Cebulak/Essay)

... domains of high and low politics, which is derived from constitutional theory, and external to the CJEU; and secondly a distinction based on legitimizing paradigms of administrative (EU as effective global ...

3. How to Bridge the Gaps between Competing Paradigms for EU Law: An Introduction
(Marta Simoncini and Gert Straetmans/Editorial)

... different risks.On the anniversary of sixty years of the Rome Treaties, this Special Issue aims to reflect on the paradigms for EU law looking beyond their competing accounts of EU integration. The analysis ...

4. The Theory of EU Constitutional Pluralism: A Crisis in a Crisis?
(Leonardo Pierdominici/Essay)

The paper deals with the validity of constitutional pluralism as a constitutional theory for the European Union and a paradigm for the understanding of EU law in the current times of crisis. It reconstructs ...

5. Paradigms for EU Law and the Limits of Delegation. The Case of EU Agencies
(Marta Simoncini/Essay)

This article questions the idea that the EU is a pure regulatory power based on supranational delegation of competence from the Member States. It claims the insufficiency of this single paradigm to explain ...

6. “Top-down” vs. “Bottom-up”: A Dichotomy of Paradigms for the Legitimation of Public Power in the EU
(Sergio Dellavalle/Essay)

Public power has been justified by resorting to two different kinds of legitimation: one coming from above, the other emerging from the governed. While legitimation “from above” implies that those who ...

7. Reflections on the ‘Administrative, Not Constitutional’ Character of EU Law in Times of Crisis
(Peter L. Lindseth/Essay)

... a dominant paradigm that seeks to understand EU governance in autonomously democratic and constitutional terms, the legitimacy of integration as a whole has remained primarily ‘administrative, not constitutional’. ...

8. Deferential dialogues between the Court of Justice and domestic courts regarding the compatibility of the EU Data Retention Directive with (higher?) national fundamental rights standards
(Ioana Pelin-Raducu/Essay)

... are also explored. The case-law where constitutional courts exercised their competence to indirectly review the validity of EU legislation is discussed in light of the constitutional pluralism paradigm. ...

9. The European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights two years later
(Filippo Fontanelli/Essay)

... From an analysis of the cases, it emerges that there still are some uncertain issues, such as the extent of the competences of the EU, the paradigmatic function of the case-law of the European Court of ...

10. The Indian and Chinese policies towards Africa: a veritable challenge to EU-led interregionalism?
(Emanuele Pollio/Essay)

... of new paradigms of interregionalism (promoted by India and China) might impact on the re-defined EU-Africa interregional development partnerships. The paper submits that the EU’s, India’s and China’s ...