Sammenslutningens kunst: Om føderalisme hos Johannes Althusius og Hannah Arendt

Authors

  • Benjamin Ask Popp-Madsen Institut for Statskundskab, Københavns Universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/politik.v19i3.27410

Abstract

This article discusses the theories of federalism as formulated by the early modern

thinker Johannes Althusius and by 20th century political thinker Hannah Arendt. The

article ventures into a discussion on the specific democratic attributes of Althusius’ and

Arendt’s federal visions, focusing on the federal nature of Althusius’ concept of association

and Arendt’s concept of the promise. Moreover, the article argues for understanding

Althusius’ and Arendt’s federalisms as expressions of the constituent power, as

a way in which the collectivity can organize itself institutionally without relinquishing

their original power to constitute new institutional forms. Finally, the article seeks to

place federalism in a historical and conceptual discussion with state sovereignty, hereby

denaturalizing the idea of the state as modernity’s only political form, by showing the

key differences between state sovereignty and the central tenets of Althusius’ and Arendt’s

notions of federalism. The article concludes by enumerating two political principles

of the federation, namely association and self-rule.

Author Biography

Benjamin Ask Popp-Madsen, Institut for Statskundskab, Københavns Universitet

Ph.d.-studerende på Institut for Statskundskab, Københavns Universitet

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Published

2016-09-01

How to Cite

Popp-Madsen, B. A. (2016). Sammenslutningens kunst: Om føderalisme hos Johannes Althusius og Hannah Arendt. Politik, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.7146/politik.v19i3.27410