Johannes Althusius: The First Federalist

Johannes Althusius (about 1563 – August 12, 1638) [1] was a German jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.
He is best known for his 1603 work, "Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata"; revised editions were published in 1610 and 1614. The ideas expressed therein have led many to consider him one of the first true federalists as the greatest intellectual thinker in the early development of federalism in the 16th and 17th centuries and the construction of subsidiarity. In Alain de Benoist book called “The First Federalist:” Johannes Althusius “ , the author says that Althusius has been called by Carl Joachim Friedrich : “the most profound political thinker between Bodin and Hobbes ” . Althusius was a protestant that became a public trustee in Bremen after he was a law professor at
Herborn. He wrote a book in which he argued that the sovereignty of the state belonged to the people. The Jesuits categorized him as a protestant who spoke against the royal power because of the anti-coton””which was a pamphlet published in 1610 attacking Pierre Coton.
In most history text books published after 1945,Althusius name is marked only by its absence. He was forgotten until Otto von Gierke devoted a new famous book to him. Althusius was very close to the monarchomachists who were French Huguenot theorists.
A complete translation of Althusius’s major work has not appeared in any modern language. CHAPTER I Johannes Althusius or Johann Althaus was born in 1577 into a modest family in Diedenshausen , Westphalia. He started studying law , theology and philosophy in 1581 , fist in Cologne , than in Paris and Basel where he lived with his friend ,Johann Grynaeus. In 1586 , he received his law degree with a thesis which was published in the same year under the title ”Juris romani libri duo”.He relocated to Geneva , where he completed his studies in law and logic under Denis Godefroy. In October 1954 he was invited to the Protestant Academy of Herborn and became a member of the law faculty. He taught philosophy and theology for the next 17 years and he got married in Steinfurt (Siegen).In late 1599, Althusius became president of the College of Siegen , and in 1602 president of the College of Herford while in 1601 he published a work on morality “Civilis conversations libri duo”. A protestant synod gathered in Emden (where he was chosen to be a municipal trustee) in 1571 around which the Dutch churches reunited the communities of eastern Frise and the lower Rhine. Althusius actively participated in Emden’s struggle against the Council of Frise , which allowed him to apply his theories of autonomy and the freedom of “states”. According to Gierke : “During the hole time of his mandate he appeared to be the soul of town politics , fighting for the reformed faith for franchises and municipal rights against suzerains and the nobility.” CHAPTER II

Althusius made politics the fundamental concept of his entire theoretical construction .He defined politics as “the art of establishing ,cultivating and conserving among men the necessary , essential , and homogenous conditions of social life”. According to Althusius, the essence of politics is very specific , which allows it to be independent of law, philosophy and even theology. Being human is a function of belonging to one or more interdependent communities “The longer an individual lives isolated , the more impossible it becomes for him to settle and live honestly…” , according to our principal character if I may say so. A man is a social being who derives his proper and nature within an ordained world, returning to ancient traditions. Symbiotic relationships define typically the close and long term interaction of different biological organisms or species.
It may also be referred to as the mutual survival of different organisms in the biological world. Each species or partner interacting in a particular symbiotic relationship is called the symbiont.Althusius finds the source of all cooperation in man’s social nature and in his need for a broader life.No man can live isolated ; everyone belongs to one or more of these organic unions. A symbiotic relation is established between those who have the same needs , and who fiind themselves in the neighbourhoods of all sorts. Althusius distinguishes between “social pacts” which guarantee the autonomy of different communities which aim at organizing them hierarchically. He says that society is composed of groups attached to one another ,and, understood in the sense of links and relationships exists by nature. Althusius describes the passage(trecerea) from household or villager to citizen, from the social to the political . The communication of law establishes and guarantees the autonomy of symbiotic
communities. The ephors (guardians) intervene in emergency situations and exceptional circumstances , which Althusius perceives to be perfectly natural ; they are mainly responsible for the federated provinces , the integration of provincial live into national life is greatly facilitated. The prince retains executive power; he exercises his sovereign power through delegation , on the basis of a reciprocal pact. Althusius emphasises that there is no distinction between election , which comes from the people , and constitution, which comes from God. He adheres to the classic thesis of the monarchomachists concerning the people’s sovereignity.