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In a world dominated by Westphalian states, the European Union (EU) stands unique. Never before have independent countries collectively ceded so much authority to a supranational polity. The European ‘experiment’begun nearly sixty years ago has resulted in unprecedented economic and political integration. Precisely for this reason, the EU has captivated scholars’ attention from its inception. Although interest has fluctuated in conjunction with real-world developments, political scientists remain fixated on this sui generis organization. Yet empirical uniqueness need not preclude theoretical generalization. We interrogate the political science of the European Union along two dimensions. First, to what extent do scholars conceptualize the EU as sui generis versus a test case for broader theoretical development? Second, in the latter case, to what extent do scholars endeavor either to export EU-derived theories outward toward other fields, geographic regions, and political phenomena or to import outside explanatory theories and tools into the political science of the EU? We proceed as follows. First, we briefly review the various stages of European integration and describe the European Union as it exists today. Next, we appraise past waves of EU scholarship, devoting particular attention to their explanatory priorities in terms of capturing the specificity and/or articulating the generality of the EU experience. We conclude with an optimistic assessment of the current state of the field. Recent work is ample, diverse, and represented in multiple venues that spotlight all types of EU-related political science. We propose that the most promising programs …