Abstract

Althusius is undoubtedly the founder and connotation endower of the term “federation”. He explained the origin of the term as coming from “feudo”, which means feudal territory, covenant, agreement, and obligation. It is a group of people with a common purpose who, under the witness of God, sign a covenant stipulating that a ruler will be elected among them in some just manner, and the others will obey the ruler's commands. The author named this form of organization: federation. The family is the most basic unit of a federation, or more bluntly, the family is the smallest federation. Can a king create another king with the same rights by transferring rights? Impossible. Because the rights of the recipient of the transferred rights are always less than those of the transferor. This is the process and essence of politics. In the author's view, politics, or rather, just politics, should be organized in the form of a federation. In this federal polity, the lower ranks are higher than the upper ranks, and the parts are greater than the whole. Because the lower ranks, parts, peripheries, and subordinates are eternal; while the upper ranks, the whole, the center, and the superiors are temporary, derivative, and created, and thus can also be taken away. Indeed, the authority of an individual citizen is less than that of the supreme magistrate as the head of the union. But the collective authority of the citizens is greater than the authority of the supreme magistrate.