Even in times of crisis, the European Union (EU) remains the archetype of successful and sustained regional integration—a profound, ongoing experiment in deep political and economic cooperation among 28 diverse member states. As 2015-2018 holder of a Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Nils Ringe will create a multi-faceted program of teaching and research with a focus on democratic representation and EU law-making. This program includes: (1) research aimed at broadening and deepening knowledge of the European Union and EU Studies, with an emphasis on patterns and determinants of decision-making in EU institutions, elections, and popular representation; (2) teaching EU affairs to students at the undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D. level; (3) training and mentoring a new generation of academics and public servants with a focus on European Union politics and political economy; and (4) intensifying collaborative linkages between students, academics, policy-makers, and stakeholders in the U.S., the EU, and beyond.The last two decades of scholarship on the EU have seen a notable trend away from treating the EU as a conventional international organization composed of sovereign member states, toward the study of EU as a complex political system that can meaningfully be compared and contrasted with domestic institutions or other multi-level systems of governance. The Chair’s own research agenda, on decision-making inside EU institutions, the EU’s legislative process, and EP elections, fits directly into this Comparative Politics research agenda. Yet, the peculiarities that stem from the reality that the EU is neither a state nor a federation are undeniable and ever-present. The program of teaching and research proposed in this application for a Jean Monnet Chair reflects this dichotomy.