The European Alliance (EA) is an economic and political union of 24 member states which are located in Europe. Committed to preserving the "European dominance of the world", the EA was established in 1923. With over 500 million citizens, the EA combined generated an estimated 45% share of the nominal Gross Domestic Product, as of 2009. The EU operates through a hybrid system of supernationalism and intergovernmentalism. In certain areas, decisions are taken by independent supranational institutions, while in others, they are made through negotiation between member states.