Confederations

A confederation (or confederacy) is a voluntary alliance of sovereign, independent states established to manage matters of common concern to the member states, such as defense. The verb confederate has traditionally meant to form an alliance that carries out the will of a coalition of interests, none of which surrenders sovereignty to the confederation. Leading historical examples of political associations called confederations include the Swiss confederations of 1291–1798 and 1814–48, the Dutch Republic (1589–1795), the Articles of Confederation of the United States (1781–1789), the Germanic Confederation (1815–1866), and the southern Confederate States of America (1861–1865).

Prior to the invention of modern federalism by the framers of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and 1788, the word "confederal" was interchangeable with the word "federal", as in The Federalist, where use of the word "federal" by Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), James Madison (1751–1836), and John Jay (1745–1829) actually means what is today called confederal or confederation. The U.S. Constitution, however, transformed the historic concept of federalism as confederation into the modern concept of federation and, as a result, created the widespread view that confederation is a weak, even outmoded, form of government.

A key difference between a federation and a confederation is that a federation establishes a nation-state that possesses attributes of sovereignty; the general (or national) government can legislate directly for individuals. Thus, for example, under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government can tax, fine, arrest, and regulate individuals and also conscript citizens into military service. In contrast, the confederal government under the U.S. Articles of Confederation could not tax, fine, arrest, or regulate individuals or conscript citizens into the military.

There is no precise, universally applicable definition of confederation or exact distinctions between confederal and federal systems of government because, in practice, confederations vary in their characteristics. In addition, characteristics of confederation and federation get mixed together in response to real-world political conditions. For example, Switzerland's constitution is titled "The Federal Constitution of the Helvetic (or Swiss) Confederation." The European Union's core decision-making structure is confederal, yet many of its other structures and operations are federal in nature.

origins and development

The word "federal" comes from the Latin foedus, meaning "covenant." A covenant signifies a partnership or marriage in which individuals or groups voluntarily consent to unite for common purposes without giving up their fundamental rights or identities.

The covenant idea originated in the Hebrew Bible, which holds that a covenant is a theological concept as well as a political idea that stands in contrast (a) to organic forms of government based on a common ancestor, who was sometimes thought to be a god, and (b) to forms of government based on conquest. The covenant idea emphasizes that all relationships—between God and humans and among humans themselves—should be established by mutual and voluntary consent and signified by a covenant or compact of mutual promise and obligation. The Hebrew Bible describes a succession of covenants between God and, successively, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. It also includes a political covenant that established Israel initially as a confederation of tribes. Together, the tribes developed a common identity as the people of Israel, but tribal identities and institutions were preserved, and a division of powers existed between the confederation and the individual tribes.

The covenant idea was universalized in Western civilization when Christianity adopted the Hebrew Bible as its Old Testament (literally, Old Covenant) and added its own New Testament (i.e., New Covenant) during the epoch of the Roman Empire. However, theological and political concepts of covenant were soon pushed into the background of Christian doctrine by Greek and Roman ideas. Although the Aetolian and Achaean Leagues of ancient Greece demonstrate Greek familiarity with the idea of confederation, neither covenant nor confederation was central to Greek political philosophy. The emergence of Western and Eastern church empires, moreover, culminated in the oppressive, hierarchical forms of religious organization and political governance of the Middle Ages.

The outbreak of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 produced a revival of covenant. Various Reformed Protestants who followed Martin Luther's (1483–1546) break from the Roman Catholic Church—such as John Calvin (1509–1564), Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575), and Huldreich Zwingli (1484–1531)—moved the covenant idea to the center of theology. With the

breakdown of medieval forms of religious organization, Reformed Protestants developed a political theology of covenant, which held that the only legitimate basis for forming church congregations and larger church structures was through the consent of individual members and congregations.

Similarly, Reformed Protestants, in their revolts against Catholic princes, combined the covenant idea with popular sovereignty to develop theories of resistance to tyranny and rights of revolution, as in Philippe Duplessis-Mornay's (1572–1600) famous Vindiciae contra tyrannos of 1579. At first, reformers emphasized the idea that monarchs can rule legitimately only through a three-way covenant of mutual consent between God, monarch, and the people, but the monarchomachs (i.e., monarch-eaters) and other reformers soon argued that people do not need monarchs because only Jesus Christ is king and, thus, on earth, humans, who are equal in the eyes of God, are free to organize their own governments on the basis of mutual consent. Such covenant ideas flourished wherever Reformed Protestants established footholds, especially in Switzerland, parts of Germany, Puritan England, Presbyterian Scotland, the Dutch provinces, and Huguenot France.

The first systematic political ideas articulated in North America were those of the Puritans' federal or covenant theology, and the first political covenant was the Mayflower Compact of 1620. For the Puritans and other Reformed Protestants, individuals forged covenants in marriage to form families; families made covenants to form congregations and towns; local congregations and towns consented to covenants to form larger structures of government; and entire colonies could form a union such as the New England Confederation (1643).

Nonreligious reformers later secularized the covenant idea. The first full-fledged political theory of federalism is attributed to Johannes Althusius (1557–1638), who wrote Politicia Methodice Digesta (1614). The covenant idea is central to Thomas Hobbes's (1588–1679) Leviathan (1651), to John Locke's (1632–1704) Two Treatises of Government (1690) in which Locke used the word "compact" to signify a political covenant, and to the works of other English and Scottish political philosophers of the seventeenth century. The covenant idea also was applied widely to international relations by such thinkers as Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), where it became known as the federative principle of treaty- and agreement-making.

The framers of the U.S. Articles of Confederation and U.S. Constitution were strongly influenced intellectually by these secular philosophers, as well as by the predominance of covenant-based religions in North America—from the Baptists, Calvinists, and Congregationalists in New England to the Dutch of New York, Presbyterians of the middle and southern states, Quakers and German sectarians of Pennsylvania, Scots-Irish of the mountains and piedmont from Pennsylvania to Georgia, Huguenots of South Carolina, and Jews scattered throughout the states. The framers were also familiar with the once-powerful political union of the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Indian nations, collectively known as the Iroquois Confederacy.

reasons to form a confederation

A confederal system is ordinarily established through the voluntary coming together of different sovereign states to form a league or alliance for purposes of mutual aid and defense against foreign aggression. By uniting, smaller states and political communities can mount larger and more effective defense forces. They also can establish peace and security within the confederation by setting forth rules and procedures that prevent war among themselves. These were important motivations for the drafters of the U.S. Articles of Confederation.

Another, less common reason is economic; namely, to establish a protected area of free trade that can foster economic development and prosperity within the member states by eliminating trade and tax barriers between the confederation's member states. This was an important motivation for the founders of the European Union.

principal characteristics

There are no fixed characteristics that apply to all confederations. Instead, one can speak only of common and customary characteristics. The characteristics of confederations also are highlighted by distinguishing them from federations.

No Authority to Legislate for Individuals. Ordinarily, a confederal government cannot tax, arrest, or conscript individuals into the military or regulate commerce among its member states. It can act only through its member states. For example, the United Nations, which is a type of confederation, cannot tax, arrest, or conscript individuals into its peacekeeping forces or regulate international commerce. However, the European Union, which is still at base a confederal system, has been increasingly invested with substantial powers that directly affect individuals.

No Independent Revenue Sources. Ordinarily, a confederal government, having no tax powers, possesses no independent sources of revenue to support its operations. Instead, it must rely on contributions or dues payments by its member states. As a result, many member states fail to pay their full dues, as was the case under the U.S. Articles of Confederation when most of the thirteen states paid far less than they were asked to pay to support the confederation. The United Nations faced the same problem early in the twenty-first century. This lack of independent revenue is intentional, however, because the member states wish to guarantee their ability to control the confederal government according to the principle of "the one who pays the piper calls the tune."

Sovereignty Retained by the Member States. Consequently, no sovereignty or attributes of sovereignty are usually vested in a confederation, and a confederation cannot act as a single sovereign entity. Instead, sovereignty is retained by the member states, and the confederation acts only at the behest of the member states.

Member-State Citizenship. Likewise, individuals usually retain citizenship in the separate member states and also identify patriotically with the member states because there is no citizenship in the confederation. By contrast, in the U.S. federal system, individuals have dual (federal and state) citizenship. As a result, even if all the member states of a confederation are democratic, the confederation itself is not democratic. This is why, for example, there is constant debate about a "democratic deficit" in the European Union.

Written Document. A confederation is usually established by, and based on, awritten document. This document is not a constitution; instead, it is described as articles, convention, treaty, or some other term. The document states the purposes of the confederation, the terms of confederation, the structure and procedures of the confederal government, and, most important, the specific powers that can be exercised by the confederation.

Expressly Delegated Powers. A confederation usually possesses only limited, specific, and expressly delegated powers. That is, a confederal government can exercise only those powers that are expressly (i.e., explicitly) stated in the document (e.g., articles or treaty) that establishes the confederation. It can only do what it is expressly permitted to do; it cannot broaden its powers through interpretation.

Equal Decision-Making Representation. In a confederation, all member states ordinarily have equal representation in the confederation's decision-making council, and each member state ordinarily has one vote in the decisionmaking council—as in the United Nations General Assembly. The fact that each state is represented by two senators in the U.S. Senate is a reflection of this confederal principle of equal representation. In the confederal congress, each state had one vote. Furthermore, the member-state representatives in a confederal council are usually appointed and also paid by their member-state governments rather than being elected by the people of the member states and paid by the confederal government. As such, the members of a confederal council are more like ambassadors than representatives.

Extraordinary Voting Rules. Frequently, majority voting is rejected in confederal decision-making councils in favor of super-majority and unanimous voting. For example, the confederal congress under the U.S. Articles of Confederation could exercise its major, expressly delegated powers only if nine (69%) of the thirteen states voted to do so. Amendments to the Articles required the unanimous consent of all thirteen member states. Similarly, in the United Nations Security Council, any one of the five permanent members can veto a proposal even if all other members of the council approve it.

Secession. Ordinarily, member-states of a confederation are permitted to leave or secede from the confederation. In contrast, nearly all federations prohibit secession by constituent states.

the iroquois confederacy

The Iroquois Confederacy is a complex social and political union of Iroquois people comprising the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Indian nations. It is also called the Five Nations, and sometimes, the Six Nations, since the Tuscarora joined later.

Complete with its own orally transmitted constitution, the Iroquois Confederacy is an agreement that binds all six separate Iroquois nations into one alliance. The constitution lays out their agreements for joining together in decisions regarding war, peace, and trade alliances.

At the turn of the twenty-first century the Iroquois grand council continued to use the confederacy's constitution to guide it in decision-making. Scholars have called the Iroquois Confederacy the oldest participatory democracy still in existence. Some historians believe the confederacy was formed as early as c.e., 1390, although others say it was organized around c.e. 1450–1500. When the American colonists began developing the U.S. government, they were influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy and its constitution.

evaluation

Although there are examples of enduring confederations, such as the Swiss confederation, confederation is commonly viewed as a weak form of government because the general confederal government has few powers, the member states have substantial veto powers against the confederation, warfare can fragment a confederation, and foreign powers can divide and conquer a confederation. Confederation is not likely, therefore, to be a viable form of government for a political community that seeks to be a nation-state or superpower. In turn, the weaknesses and problems of the United Nations suggest that confederation is not a viable model for general global governance.

However, the emergence of regional political and economic associations, such as the European Union, suggests that new types of confederation that combine confederal and federal principles can be viable ways of promoting political and economic integration in specific regions. Furthermore, under conditions of peace, with military protection from a superpower such as the United States or a strong alliance such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), regional confederal arrangements might be able to flourish for political and economic reasons. Even if such regional confederations are not democratic or are only partly democratic, their legitimacy might be maintained so long as the member states are democratic and so long as the confederation delivers economic, political, cultural, and environmental benefits to the peoples of the member states.

See also: Federalism; European Union; United Nations.

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John Kincaid