It basically boils down to law.

A Confederation would have an overarching legal system which applies to all members, a Federation allows members to have legal powers within their own jurisdiction but would impose federal law when crimes are committed between jurisdictions, a Hegemony would require each member to answer to a central authority for all decision made within their jurisdiction and an Empire would require all decision to be made by a central authority for all members.

With a Conglomeration there's no requirement for members to ever answer to each other for decisions made, and no 'Federal law' to bridge matters which fall outside of a member nation's jurisdiction. Theoretically a member nation could hunt down and prosecute a citizen of another member's nation for breaking the law in the first member nation's jurisdiction without having to apply for extradition first. The citizen would then have to answer directly to the prosecuting member nation under that nation's laws.

It's possible that, as an extreme example, one member nation could make it illegal to wear purple on Wednesdays, punishable by death. If a tourist was seen wearing purple they could be executed without the member nation having to explain the action to the tourist's home nation, even if the law in that nation stated that every person must wear purple on Wednesdays, or face death. They broke the law, they suffered the consequences.

[@Dragonite777] [color=999900][i]-Note to self: check for social normality in keeping all team relationships positive. Video games have proven otherwise. Source - Alpha Protocol.[/i][/color]

Glad to see [i]Alpha Protocol[/i] managed to stand the test of time. Damn, that game needs a sequel. Which ending do you think would be best to continue the story from?