Experiences and theory of federalism

O. Beaud first presented an overview of the literature on federalism, highlighting the absence of systematic studies in France, where the sovereign model dominates. During the Revolution, federalism was associated with feudalism. If the notion regained some credibility, it was mainly due to the creation of international institutions that brought it into play (the League of Nations, Europe). But federalism is never studied for its own sake: it is often described as a form of decentralization, not as a political order. O. Beaud has proposed, against this literature, to defend the hypothesis that a federal system should be understood neither as a State nor as an Empire. It is an autonomous political form, which perfectly assumes to be both a union of states and an institution, in the knowledge that this institution requires sovereign states to transform themselves into member-states.