SUMMARY:

The article by Olivier Beaud surveys the recent legal and political theoretical debates about federation and federalism and suggests an alternative interpretation of federation as a political form different from the state. The author mentions two misconceptions and logical vicious circles about federation: one reads that federation is a state form, the other – that federation is different from confederation. These misconceptions arise from the analysis of federation through the hegemonic lens of the political, that is, the modern concept of sovereignty. Some political theorists, Beaud observes, note the logical inconsistencies of analysis of federation from the view point of sovereignty and refrain from the legal and political classification of federation as a political form. Beaud takes a different approach and on the basis of analysis of European political thought constructs a different interpretation of federation. He suggests that federation is a form of political community rather than a hierarchically based system of political relations. Therefore, Beaud contends that the best way to approach the theoretical riddle of federation and federalism would be to bracket federation and confederation as a single political type and allow for the possibility of dual orders of sovereign relations inside the political community of federation.