allautonomia

Allautonomia is a neologism used in political theory and public discourse to denote a framework for distributing political authority across multiple levels of governance in a way that emphasizes maximum local self-government. The concept envisions that governance power should reside as close as possible to the communities most directly affected, while maintaining a common set of universal rights and interoperable standards through a coordinating layer. The term fuses autonomy with a universal or all-encompassing scope, and it is not tied to a single doctrine.

Etymology and usage: The word appears in discussions in several European languages as a compound of autonomia with prefixes suggesting universality. It is not an officially adopted doctrine, and its precise meaning varies among writers, think tanks, and speculative fiction.

Concepts and variants: In radical decentralization variants, allautonomia seeks near-absolute subnational sovereignty, with each locality deciding on most policy areas. In polycentric variants, many autonomous jurisdictions operate under a federative or confederal framework that coordinates rights, trade, and security. A common core often includes a constitutional bill of rights, dispute resolution mechanisms, and interoperability standards to prevent parallel systems from harming citizens’ rights and mobility. Some proposals envision a bottom-up constitutional order where regional or community constitutions aggregate into a national framework.

Criticism and challenges: Critics warn of potential inequalities, administrative fragmentation, and difficulties in providing universal services or defending shared interests. Effective implementation would require strong constitutional design, transparent funding, and robust dispute resolution.

See also: autonomy, subsidiarity, federalism, confederalism, devolution, localism, polycentric governance.