This book examines just what the European Union is, in the context of the ongoing structural transformation of the global system. The author develops an integrated approach to global transformations, drawing on geopolitics, political geography, international relations, economics, economic and political history, political economy and macro-sociology to discuss how this supra-state organisation, that shares and pools the sovereignty of some of the wealthiest states of the modern world, makes sense. The book: Interprets the ongoing transformation of west European public authority in the context of the global geopolitical economy of competition, cooperation and conflict Examines the consequences of west European integration for the global system in a longue-duree perspective, developing a new, geopolitical dialect within world-systems analysis, sharpening some of the conceptual tools developed by its paradigm-setters. Develops a new conceptualization for the EU's global geopolitical strategy, which the author describes this strategy as the elasticity of size Developing a deeper understanding of global social change and west European strategies of global advantage-maintenance and power-management, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Politics, International Politics, International Relations Theory and Globalization Studies.