Supranationality

A supranational union is a type of multinational political union where negotiated power is delegated to an authority by governments of member states. The concept of supranational union is sometimes used to describe the European Union (EU), as a new type of political entity. The EU is the only entity which provides for international popular elections, going beyond the level of political integration normally afforded by international treaty. The term "supranational" is sometimes used in a loose, undefined sense in other contexts, sometimes as a substitute for international, transnational or global. Another method of decision-making in international organisations is intergovernmentalism, in which state governments play a more prominent role.

After the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Albert Einstein spoke and wrote frequently in the late 1940s in favor of a "supranational" organization to control all military forces except for local police forces, including nuclear weapons. He thought this might begin with the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, and grow to encompass most other nations, presenting this as the only way to avoid nuclear war. He broached the idea in a November 1945 and November 1947 articles in The Atlantic Monthly that described how the constitution of such an organization might be written. In an April 1948 address at Carnegie Hall, he reiterated: "There is only one path to peace and security: the path of supranational organization." Thanks to his celebrity, Einstein's ideas on the subject generated much discussion and controversy, but the proposal did not generate much support in the West and Soviet Union viewed it with hostility.

With its founding Statute of 1949 and its Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which came into force in 1953, the Council of Europe created a system based on human rights and the rule of law. Robert Schuman, French Foreign minister, initiated the debate on supranational democracy in his speeches at the United Nations, at the signing of the Council's Statutes and at a series of other speeches across Europe and North America.

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