What Is Confederalism?
A confederation is a political union of sovereign states or chiefdoms united for purposes of common action. Part of the Technocratic family.
Definition
A confederation is a political union of sovereign states or chiefdoms united for purposes of common action.
Definition quoted from Wikipedia: Confederation (text available under CC BY-SA 4.0; checked October 20, 2026).
Core ideas
- Sovereignty kept by member states.
- Limited central institutions.
- Cooperation by agreement.
Core ideas, origins and thinkers: Atlas summary.
Where Confederalism sits on the Atlas maps
| Map dimension | Score (0–100) | Position | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Collective / planned ↔ Market | 56 | near the center | |
| Social Progressive ↔ Traditional | 33 | toward progressive | |
| Authority Libertarian ↔ Authoritarian | 19 | toward libertarian | |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 46 | near the center | |
| Foreign policy Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 24 | toward non-intervention |
All nine underlying dimensions
| Dimension | Score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Economic ownership Collective ownership ↔ Private ownership | 55 | near the center |
| Civil liberties Civil liberty ↔ State restrictions | 29 | toward civil liberty |
| National identity Cosmopolitan ↔ Nationalist | 46 | near the center |
| Social and cultural values Progressive ↔ Traditionalist | 37 | near the center |
| Political governance Democratic ↔ Autocratic | 8 | strongly toward democratic |
| Equality and hierarchy Egalitarian ↔ Hierarchical | 37 | near the center |
| Economic management Free market ↔ State planning | 43 | near the center |
| Military intervention Non-intervention ↔ Intervention | 24 | toward non-intervention |
| Religion and government Secular state ↔ Religious authority | 24 | toward secular state |
These positions are estimates on the Atlas’s nine-dimension scale, produced by running the tradition’s core principles through the same questions and scoring used for test-takers. They are interpretations for comparison, not objective measurements. How scores are made.
Estimated positions on key questions
| Statement | Position | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Opposition parties should be free to compete in elections. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Religious doctrine should take precedence over civil law when they conflict. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| People should be free to criticize the government without fear of legal punishment. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Central economic planning is preferable to decentralized market decisions. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| The means of production should ultimately be owned collectively. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Preserving a historic national majority is a legitimate immigration objective. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Military power should be used proactively when serious external threats are emerging. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Society works best when established social hierarchies are respected. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
| Same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples. | Strongly agrees | estimated from doctrine |
| During a pandemic, governments should be able to order people to stay at home except for essential reasons. | Strongly disagrees | estimated from doctrine |
Related ideologies
Direct Democracy95% similar position · TechnocraticParticipatory Democracy93% similar position · TechnocraticFederalism92% similar position · TechnocraticGeorgism90% similar position · LibertarianModerate Liberalism90% similar position · CentristCivic Republicanism90% similar position · Liberal
Main differences from the closest ideologies
- Compared with Direct Democracy, Confederalism sits 7 points further toward nationalist on the national identity dimension.
- Compared with Participatory Democracy, Confederalism sits 10 points further toward nationalist on the national identity dimension.
- Compared with Federalism, Confederalism sits 15 points further toward non-intervention on the foreign policy dimension.
Figures with the closest estimated positions
Closeness of estimated positions only; this does not mean these people identify with Confederalism.
Matt Taibbi96% similar positionGlenn Greenwald93% similar positionJoe Rogan90% similar positionAna Kasparian90% similar positionRobert F. Kennedy Jr.89% similar positionJimmy Carter88% similar position
Sources
- Wikipedia: Confederation
- Wikipedia: Confederalism (Wikipedia search)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Federalism
Position last reviewed: not yet reviewed individually.