THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARL SCHMITT’S POLITICAL THOUGHT DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Two legal publications that Carl Schmitt produced during the First World War contain the first expressions of his maximally authoritarian interpretation of the state of emergency. Yet, when read in conjunction with his wartime journals, we find that his production of these texts is contextualized by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern intellectual history 2016-04, Vol.13 (1), p.123-149
Main Author: ROGERS, MICHAEL DYLAN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emergencies
Law
Politics
Schmitt, Carl (1888-1985)
War
World War I
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Summary:Two legal publications that Carl Schmitt produced during the First World War contain the first expressions of his maximally authoritarian interpretation of the state of emergency. Yet, when read in conjunction with his wartime journals, we find that his production of these texts is contextualized by a profound, private struggle over whether to accept or reject the political values they articulate. What is most surprising about Schmitt's self-presentation in these journals is the degree to which, during the early war period, he expresses a visceral anti-authoritarianism and concern for decidedly liberal ideals such as the rights of the individual and the separation of powers. But it is also in these journals that we observe the process—culminating in a moment of existential decision during the winter of 1915–16—through which he came to see such liberal commitments as untenable on both personal and political-theoretical levels simultaneously.
ISSN:1479-2443
1479-2451
DOI:10.1017/S1479244314000535