This paper argues that contemporary European developments provide a window of opportunity for learning about how political community and authority is possible in spite of enduring diversity. The paper explores sources of political unity and how institutions mediate between diversity and unity. The theoretical discussion is then applied to two European puzzles and it is asked whether there is a “European way” to manage unity and diversity and, more generally, what lessons can be drawn from the European case.
A later version of this article was published in P. K. Mydske and I. Pters (eds) (2006) The Transformation of the European Nation State, Berlin , Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag.