Confederalism

Confederalism is widely considered as one of the many varieties among federal polities. Its main characteristic that makes it different from other forms of federalism is that it concerns cooperation between independent, (i.e., sovereign) states. Other types of federalism consider the constituent parts as a part of one whole representing them internationally and binding the parts by means of a constitution. Hence, a federal state is one sovereign state, whereas a confederation is not. The (close) cooperation between states in a confederation is always based on a binding agreement—based on an international treaty ratified by each participating state—which specifies the type of (functional) cooperation.

In the past there have been several confederations, such as Switzerland and the United States, that subsequently developed into fully fledged federal states. At present, the Benelux—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—and the European Union (EU) are regarded as confederations. In short, there are few actual confederations, and it could well be considered to be a transitory type of state formation, or—as in the case of the EU—of an emerging polity with a constitution of its own.

The origins and development of confederalism can be understood by various contextual factors. On the one hand, there are sociopolitical factors, on the other hand, political economic ones. The first category concerns more often than not an urge either to “hold together” or to “come together” a certain territory. Holding together refers to countering centrifugal tendencies that would otherwise jeopardize both the existence of the parts and the whole (like for instance the Belgian case between 1970 and 1993). Coming together is often the result of centripetal tendencies due to geographical reasons and economics of scale (like, for instance the Australian case before 1901). These developments are almost always historically determined (path dependency) and strongly influenced by the geopolitical context (international status). In particular, during the process of decolonization, the formation of a confederation was considered as a means to create a new polity of culturally and economically heterogeneous constituencies (e.g., Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, and Central East Africa). Yet, most of these “post-colonial” constructions either do not exist any more or turned into quasi-unitary states (e.g., the Russian Federation, formally the Commonwealth of Independent States).

A formalized agreement between the member states limits the regulatory capacity of a confederation. Often the treaty underlying the confederal polity specifies the shared rules of decision making, on the one hand, and the authority for functional action, on the other hand. This distinction is particularly interesting, if one takes a closer look at the history and development of the coming and holding together of Europe. It can be contended that the present EU is an example of a confederation. The origins of the EU can easily be traced back in terms of centripetal and centrifugal tendencies that existed in twentieth century Europe. In other words, it can be argued that “European integration” is showing a strong [Page 137]resemblance to the formation of a confederal polity in transit.