Johannes Althusius Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Sovereignism is undergoing a very understandable resurgence that to a large extent, can be seen as very positive. Still, the very notion of “sovereignism” remains ambiguous and could criticized on some points. Sovereignism, in the first place, is closely linked to the idea of the nation-state, which is now visibly in crisis. The nation-state is associated with modern times as with the Jacobin concept of state), but today it seems obsolete. Some problems can no longer be solved on this scale. Sovereignty, on the other hand, can be conceived in many different ways, for example, according to Jean Bodin it presupposes indivisibility and the omnicompetence of the governing bodies, while, according to Johannes Althusius, it is distributed on several levels based on the principle of subsidiarity. We may also wonder whether sovereignty has the same meaning in very small states and in medium or large ones: does it for both mean indipendence or simply autonomy? Finally, it remains to be shown that it is enough to guarantee collective identity, of which it appears rather as a necessary, but not sufficient, condition.

Pluralism, in its many ramifications, represents a particularly broad line of political and social thought as well as an approach to empirical analysis. The intellectual roots of the concept can be traced back over centuries. In modern political science, the term has been mostly associated with analyses of the influence of interest groups over executive political decision- making. As a paradigmatic theory and method, the approach was not fully elaborated until the mid 20th century. It then quickly developed into a classic, often dominant approach to the study of politics in the Western world. The article approaches the concept and theory of pluralism from a historico-developmental perspective.

Notions such as 'states-system' and 'international system' are central to IR. Yet, they have been neglected in our study of conceptual history. This paper focuses on the 17th-century debate about the status of the Holy Roman Empire as a political unit. During that time, several key figures of political philosophy such as Althusius, Pufendorf and Leibniz attempted to theorise the Empire and, in the process, the term 'states-system' was employed as a category of analysis. Althusius pioneered integration theory and proposed federalism as a description of the historical and legal formation of the Empire. Pufendorf did not find any relevance in the existing categories and argued that the Empire was "a monster", but almost a 'states-system'. Leibniz rejected Pufendorf's solution and claimed that the Empire was a federal union. In conclusion it is argued that, although they were discussing the same object, the three thinkers substantially differed in their analyses because of their own commitments to distinct philosophical systems. All three contributions are extremely relevant to the understanding of both IR as a discipline and our current political reality.

This chapter sketches the development of rights talk in those parts of the Western tradition inspired by the teachings of the Genevan Reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564). Building in part on classical and Christian prototypes, Calvin developed arresting new teachings on authority and liberty, duties and rights, and church and state that have had an enduring influence on Protestant lands. Calvin's original teachings were periodically challenged by major crises in the West-the French Wars of Religion, the Dutch Revolt, the English Revolution, American colonization and the American Revolution. In each such crisis moment, a major Calvinist figure emerged-Theodore Beza, Johannes Althusius, John Milton, John Winthrop, John Adams, and others-who modernized Calvin's teachings and converted them into dramatic new legal and political reforms. This rendered early modern Calvinism one of the driving engines of Western constitutionalism. A number of our bedrock Western understandings of civil and political rights, social and confessional pluralism, federalism and social contract, and more owe a great deal to Calvinist theological and political reforms. This chapter distills the author's book length treatment of the subject, The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion, and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (Cambridge University Press, 2007).

- by John Witte, Jr.
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- John Calvin, John Milton, Johannes Althusius, English Revolution
- by Kinch Hoekstra
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- 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Sovereignty, Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes

In this paper, I develop three ideal types of early modern federal theories: sovereignty relativizing federalism, sovereignty pooling federalism, and bottom-up federalism. Each of these types respond to a different political effect of the development of the modern state: organ sovereignty, hostile geopolitical environment, and disempowerment of the society as a corollary to organ sovereignty, respectively. Each of these types conceives of the federation as an alternative to the state. I compare and contrast these types along the lines of implementation of the federal principle of self- and shared rule, the criteria of evaluation of federal arrangements, and the normative implications.

- by Jan Smolenski
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- Political Philosophy, Sovereignty, Federalism, Comparative Federalism

One of the key terms in the enormous "Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis
Sacris et Profanis Illustrata" of Johannes Althusius (1557–1638) is consociatio.
This word has been translated into English a number of different ways by Althusius
interpreters. This article contends that these renderings have proven confusing
and unhelpful and that a better approach to this key concept is needed. It offers a
brief appraisal of the received translations of consociatio in Althusius scholarship
before providing a fresh interpretation which, it is hoped, will go some way to
alleviating the extant confusion about Althusius’s political ideas.

La traducción española de la Política de Altusio (Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, Madrid, 1990) no incluye los importantes prólogos de la obra. El texto cuya traducción ofrezco aquí corresponde al principal de ellos, el prólogo de la primera edición. Como base he usado Politica methodicè digesta atque exemplis sacris & profanis illustrata. Herborn, 1603.

Early modem Calvinists produced a rich tradition of natural law and natural rights thought that shaped the law and politics of Protestant lands. The German-born Calvinist jurist Johannes Althusius produced one of the most original Calvinist natural law theories at the turn of the seventeenth century. Althusius argued for the natural qualities of a number of basic legal norms and practices by demonstrating their near universal embrace by classical and biblical, Catholic and Protestant, theological and legal communities alike. On this foundation, he developed a complex theory of public, private, penal and procedural rights and duties for his day, to be embraced by everyone, particularly by those who were slaughtering each other in religious wars, persecutions and inquisitions. Althusius' theory of natural law and natural rights was Calvinist in inspiration but universal in aspiration, and it anticipated the political formulations of a number of later Western writers, including Locke, Rousseau and Madison.

- by John Witte, Jr.
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- Natural Law, Calvinism, Symbiosis, John Calvin

Calvinist jurist Johannes Althusius (1557-1638) developed what he called a “universal theory” of law and politics for war-torn Europe. He called for written constitutions that separated the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of cities, provinces, nations, and empires alike and that guaranteed the natural rights and liberties of all subjects. To be valid, he argued, these constitutions had to respect the universal natural law set out in Christian and classical, biblical and rational teachings of law, authority, and rights. To be effective, these constitutions had to recognize the symbiotic nature of human beings who are born with a dependence on God and neighbor, family and community, and who are by nature inclined to form covenantal associations to maintain liberty and community. Althusius left a comprehensive Christian theory of rule of law and political that anticipated many of the arguments of later Enlightenment theorists of social and government contracts.

- by John Witte, Jr.
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- Natural Law, Symbiosis, Contract, Johannes Althusius
- by Richard Greydanus
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- Social Theory, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Social Contract Theory

There has been a recent renewal of interest in aspects of the political theory of Johannes Althusius (1563-1638), particularly in the realm of European Studies. The mainstream treatment leans toward the position that Althusius may be counted as one of the founding fathers of modern federalism. Whilst this paper does not completely dismiss such view, it also points out to other aspects of Althusian theory that are of crucial importance for its contextualised understanding. These neglected aspects are also of a considerable interest to contemporary thinking on issues of globalisation, coexistence and political plurality. I suggest that, if we take both sides together – pluralism and federalism – we may be able to find more contemporary relevance to Althusian political thought than is usually expected from the prevailing interpretations. Of peculiar importance is the way Althusius connects deep philosophical assumptions of unity and diversity to their application in a pluralistic political ontology. It is pointed out that much of the distortion that occurs in alternative ideological models that attempt to account for globalisation and political systems in general, both domestic and international, stem from reductionistic ontologies. Althusian pluralism, on the other hand, avoids similar intellectual pitfalls, as well as their potential or actual political distortions. The resulting agenda is that of an interpretation of global politics that sees the nation-state as simply one manifestation of political association between many other possibilities, including non-public associations operating both at transnational and localised levels.

- by Lucas G . Freire
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- Social Movements, Globalization, Political Theory, Global Governance

Calvinist neo-Aristotelianism in the German territories in the late 16th century Aristotle on stasis and homonoia The politics of Emden in the late 16th, early 17th century Althusius on faction and concord Althusius on prudence: political... more

Calvinist neo-Aristotelianism in the German territories in the late 16th century
Aristotle on stasis and homonoia
The politics of Emden in the late 16th, early 17th century
Althusius on faction and concord
Althusius on prudence: political realism in a Calvinist Aristotelian key

- by Ferenc Hörcher
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- History, Intellectual History, International Relations, Political Philosophy

- by Jan Smolenski
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- Political Philosophy, Sovereignty, Federalism, Comparative Federalism
- by Cesare Cuttica
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- Intellectual History, Plato, French Revolution, Hegel
- by Roland Czada
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- Subsidiarity, Hegel, Corporatism and Democracy, Authoritarianism
- by Lucas G . Freire
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- Religion, Sociology, Ontology, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

LEXIKON 11-2 Politisch-rechtliches Lexikon der "Politica" des Johannes Althusius : die Kunst der heilig-unverbrüchlichen, gerechten, angemessenen und glücklichen symbiotischen Gemeinschaft / hrsg. von Corrado Malandrino und Dieter Wyduckel. [Ins Dt. übertr. von Florian Neumann].-Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2010.-XIV, 394 S. ; 24 cm.-Einheitssacht.: Il lessico della Po-litica di Johannes Althusius <dt.>.-ISBN 978-3-428-12975-1 : EUR 28.00 [#1182] Gleichsam im Nachgang zur Veröffentlichung wichtiger Auszüge aus dem Hauptwerk des Johannes Althusius im Jahre 2003 1 und im Vorlauf zu einer kompletten lateinisch-deutschen Ausgabe des Werkes, die für das nächste Jahr geplant ist, erscheint ein höchst lesenswertes und gelungenes Buch, das als Schlüssel zum Verständnis des in jüngster Zeit wieder stärkere Aufmerksamkeit findenden Politiktheoretikers dienen kann. Die Nutzanwen-dung des politischen Denkens von Althusius in der Gegenwart wird man si-cher kritisch beurteilen müssen, doch lohnt die Beschäftigung mit ihm alle-mal, vor allem, wenn man sich die Bewertung Peter Nitschkes in Erinnerung ruft, der Althusius "eine der anspruchsvollsten Theorien der frühneuzeitli-chen Politik'" zugeschrieben hat. 2 Es handelt sich bei dem vorliegenden Band um das lobenswerte Ergebnis einer deutsch-italienischen Kooperation, die für Politikwissenschaftler, Juri-sten und Historiker von Interesse sein dürfte. Das Buch ist die deutsche Ausgabe des bereits 2005 erschienenen Lessico della politica di Johan-1 Politik / Johannes Althusius. Übers. von Heinrich Janssen. In Ausw. hrsg., übe-rarb. und eingel. von Dieter Wyduckel.-Berlin : Duncker und Humblot, 2003.-LXXXII, 449 S. : Ill. ; 24 cm.-ISBN 3-428-11159-1: EUR 24.80. 2 Siehe Handbuch Staatsdenker / Rüdiger Voigt ; Ulrich Weiß (Hg.). Unter Mi-tarb. von Krisztina Adorján.-Stuttgart : Steiner, 2010.-462 S. ; 25 cm.-(Rechts-philosophie).-ISBN 978-3-515-09511-2 : EUR 44.

- by Elisabeth Ellis
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- Federalism, History of Political Thought, Johannes Althusius

In what follows we shall rely on Oestrich’s claim, that in this period “(t)he major concept in politics was prudentia civilis or prudentia politica.” Unlike Oestrich, however, who had Lipsius as his major example, this chapter will investigate the thought of Althusius, looking at the ways he worked out this concept, proposing to conserve Aristotelian concord and like-mindedness in the city in a time of crisis, which was based on his own activity to consolidate the internal politics of Emden. His revision of his Politica is, as will be shown, connecting the axes of theory and practice in early modern German urban politics.

- by Ferenc Hörcher
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- History, European History, European Studies, Political Philosophy

The paper presents the ideas of two late 16th century authors, Paolo Paruta and Johannes Althusius on Rome. Both of the authors were late humanists, with actual experience of city government, referring to Rome as partly models, partly bad examples of mixed republic. Key concepts to talk about include political prudence, aristocratic rule, reliance on law and reason, moderating the passions. Venice and Emden as cities of the right size, dependent on concordia (consensus).

- by Ferenc Hörcher
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- History, European History, Intellectual History, European Studies
- by Anna Becker
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- Machiavelli, Household Economics, Johannes Althusius, Samuel von Pufendorf

Resumo: Jean Bodin é o primeiro autor a oferecer uma teoria do Estado-na sua obra publicada em 1576, intitulada Os Seis Livros sobre a República, o autor introduz uma série de conceitos que irão definir o horizonte do imaginário coletivo europeu especificamente moderno, nomeadamente com a introdução da sua teoria de soberania. Se a proposta de Bodin ganhou adeptos (entre eles Thomas Hobbes), lançando as bases para o que viria a ser a tradição monárquica absolutista na Europa, nesse mesmo período identificamos uma proposta radicalmente distinta. Em Johannes Althusius, na obra Política de 1603, a conceituação de soberania radica num direito simbiótico, precursor de uma tradição democrática e federalista. O objetivo deste artigo é oferecer uma reconstrução das relações entre direito, soberania e Estado em Bodin e Althusius e identificar a forma como os autores tratam a possibilidade de 'rebelião'. Palavras-chave: Althusius, Bodin, Estado, Rebelião, Soberania.

- by Marta Nunes da Costa
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- Political Theory, Sovereignty, Johannes Althusius, Jean Bodin

This chapter argues that Johannes Althusius had access to a number different renderings of cosmopolitanism, including Christian a neo-Stoic varieties. However, despite his political theory dealing with supranational political bodies,... more

- by Simon P Kennedy and +1
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- Cosmopolitanism, History of Political Thought, Early Modern Intellectual History, Johannes Althusius
- by Luke Bretherton
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- Sovereignty, Hobbes, Hegel, Political Theology