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Today’s European Union is going through a series of major changes. These changes are difficult to decipher. Three-quarters of a century after its inception, European integration remains a little-understood process. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the European Union is unlike any other organization. While it is more developed than 'classical' international organizations and has gained some influence in areas traditionally considered the prerogative of states, it is not a state and may possibly never become one. Moreover, since the beginning of this century, it has been confronted with a series of challenges (financial crisis, Euro crisis, migration crisis, the COVID pandemic and its aftermath, the rise of populism, etc.) which have led to deep changes in its governance. Some commentators argue that the old 'Monnet method' (named after its chief architect) must now be revisited or completely overhauled. The purpose of this class is to provide students with the tools to understand how the EU operates, what it does, and the main problems it faces. In doing so, we will critically analyze some of the main academic debates on European integration and discuss their relevance for understanding today’s problems. This will facilitate a broader discussion about the nature of EU governance: is the EU truly an organization "unlike any other," as some have argued, or can it be compared to other forms of government? The class is intended to be accessible to all students, irrespective of their prior knowledge of the functioning of the EU.