This article aims at expanding the current European Union research agenda, covering mainly four different levels of analysis: The emergence of civil society in the democratic discourse of the last two decades, the changing character of the contemporary state, the building of a trans-state political community (with a vertically integrated legal regime), and the mainstreaming of human rights in the EU external model of action. The paper suggests that the EU stands out the most extraordinary process of building-up a modern political community among state
