Johannes Althusius

Consociatio is Althusius's idea of associative bonds building political life from the family up to a federal commonwealth.

Consociatio is the concept of associative bonds that weave the fabric of political life across multiple scales. Althusius pictured society as a nested hierarchy: the family, guilds and colleges, municipalities and provinces, and finally a universal commonwealth that is a federation of provinces united by mutual pacts. Each level keeps its autonomy while delegating specific competencies upward. The structure also empowers ephors, or elected overseers, to check rulers, and it anticipates the modern emphasis on shared rule and self-rule in federalism.