How European Integration became Constitutional: The Role of American Scholars and the Transplant of American Federal Concepts

The essay examines how European integration came to be conceptualized as a constitutional phenomenon through the intellectual mediation of American scholars and the transplantation of U.S. federal concepts. It argues that the constitutionalization of the European project was not merely an endogenous development, but also the result of a transatlantic epistemic transfer that reframed European legal integration in federal and constitutional terms. By tracing this process, the chapter highlights the linguistic and conceptual filters through which comparative constitutional law operates. It shows how the adoption of American federal vocabulary shaped both the understanding and the narration of European integration. Ultimately, the contribution reveals how language functions as a vehicle of hegemonic influence in comparative constitutional discourse, structuring not only interpretation but also the very imagination of constitutional realities.