The paper reconciles two objectives. First, it seeks to present a short overview of (the origin and development of) the PA-model in EU politics. Second, it points at its major challenges. The paper is structured accordingly and opens with a short discussion of the model’s origin in US politics, its first applications to the study of the European Union and the expanding scope it has enjoyed ever since. In so-doing, we can explore the main themes in the literature while introducing key concepts and applications. In congruence with the rise of the model, the contemporary relevance became contested with the ascendance of governance as a mode of decision-making. This is the central challenge that gives rise to a series of sub-questions we raise towards the use and limitations of the model. To what extent and how can the model retain its contemporary relevance when the hierarchy is not the most characterizing trait of the decision-making machinery?
