 nature of the conflict was largely religious – Calvinist states rebelling against their Catholic overlords – it was of especial interest to Calvinist political thinkers such as Althusius.
In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Emden in East Frisia (now Germany) was at the crossroads of political and religious activity in the region. A prosperous seaport situated between the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire, with convenient maritime access to England, Emden was a prominent city in the politics and policy of all three nations, and was thus able to retain a significant amount of political freedom. It was located within the overlapping territories of the Catholic Habsburg emperor and a Lutheran provincial lord, but its population was mainly Calvinist, and the city had a strong Calvinist spirit. Emden also played host to two Protestant synods, first in 1571 and again in 1610, and was widely regarded as the "Geneva of the North" or the "alma mater" of the Dutch Reformed Church. These attributes made the city the ideal place for Althusius to propose his particular brand of political philosophy; Emden's theological and political prominence coupled with its yen for religious and civic independence made the Althusian political theory both topical and popular.
- Civilis conversationis libri duo, 1601
- Politica, the first edition of which was completed in 1603, is considered not only the most fully developed scheme of Calvinist political theory, but also the only systematic justification of the Dutch Revolt. Althusius took from thinkers in various fields, including Aristotle, Calvin, Bodin, Machiavelli, Grotius, and Peter Ramus; Politica cited close to 200 books in all; the first edition of Politica was received with wide acclaim in Emden and in the Netherlands beyond.
- Dicaeologica libri tres, totum et universum Jus, Frankfurt, 1618
The publishing of the most recent English edition of Politica was funded by the American libertarian think tank Liberty Fund. The controversy comes from the placement of the word 'association'. Most scholars would argue that this is a misrepresentation of his meaning and the word consociation is more appropriate because Althusius was referring to social groups that you cannot remove yourself from rather than associations by choice. The term 'consociatio' was used by the political scientist Arend Lijphart to give name to stable democratic systems in deeply divided societies: consociationalism.
He was married in 1596 in Siegen to Margarethe Neurath (born 1574), with whom he had at least six children.
- Althusius, Johannes (1997) , Politica, Edited and translated by Frederick Smith Carney, Liberty Fund, ISBN 9780865971158.
- Althusius, Johannes (2009) , Malandrino, Corrado; Ingravalle, Francesco; Povero, Mauro, eds., La politica (in Latin text and Italian translation), Turin: Claudiana.
- Latin for "Politics Methodically Digested, Illustrated with Sacred and Profane Examples".
- "Johannes Althusius", Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Lijphart, A (1969), "Consociational Democracy", World Politics 21 (2), fn 14.
- "Il lessico della Politica di Johannes Althusius", a cura di Francesco Ingravalle e Corrado Malandrino, Firenze, Olschki, 2005.
- Follesdal, Andres. "Survey Article: Subsidiarity." Journal of Political Philosophy 6 (June 1998): 190-219.
- Friedrich, Carl J. Constitutional Reason of State. Providence: Brown University Press, 1957.
- Hueglin, Thomas. "Covenant and Federalism in the Politics of Althusius." In The Covenant Connection: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism, ed. Daniel J. Elazar and John Kincaid, 31-54. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2000.
- Hueglin, Thomas. Early Modern Concepts for a Late Modern World: Althusius on Community and Federalism. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999.
- ________. "Federalism at the Crossroads: Old Meanings, New Significance." Canadian Journal of Political Science 36 (June 2003): 275-293.
- ________. "Have We Studied the Wrong Authors? On Johannes Althusius as a Political Theorist." Studies in Political Thought 1 (Wi