ABSTRACT
The idea that the only way to defend the constitution in turbulent times is to vest the president with powers of commissarial dictatorship is clearly in stark contrast to what those who share the federalist anti-hierarchical worldview think about state, society and politics. This chapter argues that Schmitt's constitutional theory has the same sort of relevancy for contemporary federalist thought as Bodin's Six Livres de la Republique once had for Althusius. It examines the way Schmitt defines and resolves the antinomies of the concept of federation. According to the constitutional text and its main interpreters, Yugoslav federalism was conceived as a process gradually leading towards the realisation of a classless society. Finally, when it comes to the relationship between federalism and democracy, the Swiss experience most obviously contradicts Schmitt's conclusions. In Switzerland, neither federalism nor democracy rest on the substantial homogeneity of population.
