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While antiliberal legal theorist Carl Schmitt has long been considered by Europeans to be one of this century’s most significant political philosophers, recent challenges to the fundamental values of liberal democracies have made Schmitt’s writings an unavoidable subject of debate in North America as well. In an effort to advance our understanding not only of Schmitt but of current problems of liberal democracy, David Dyzenhaus presents translations of classic German essays on Schmitt alongside more recent writings by distinguished political theorists and jurists. Neither a defense of nor an attack on Schmitt, Law as Politics offers the first balanced response to his powerful critique of liberalism.
One of the major players in the 1920s debates, an outspoken critic of the Versailles Treaty and the Weimar Constitution, and a member of the Nazi party who provided juridical respectability to Hitler’s policies, Schmitt contended that people are a polity only to the extent that they share common enemies. He saw the liberal notion of a peaceful world of universal citizens as a sheer impossibility and attributed the problems of Weimar to liberalism and its inability to cope with pluralism and political conflict. In the decade since his death, Schmitt’s writings have been taken up by both the right and the left and scholars differ greatly in their evaluation of Schmitt’s ideas. Law as Politics thematically organizes in one volume the varying engagements and confrontations with Schmitt’s work and allows scholars to acknowledge-and therefore be in a better position to negotiate-an important paradox inscribed in the very nature of liberal democracy.
Law as Politics will interest political philosophers, legal theorists, historians, and anyone interested in Schmitt’s relevance to current discussions of liberalism.Contributors. Heiner Bielefeldt, Ronald Beiner, Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde, Renato Cristi, David Dyzenhaus, Robert Howse, Ellen Kennedy, Dominique Leydet, Ingeborg Maus, John P. McCormick, Reinhard Mehring, Chantal Mouffe, William E. Scheuerman, Jeffrey Seitzer
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Foreword / Ronald Beiner
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Carl Schmitt? / David Dyzenhaus
PART I: POLITICAL THEORY AND LAW
Carl Schmitt’s Critique of Liberalism: Systematic Reconstruction and Countercriticism / Heiner Bielefeldt
The Concept of the Political: A Key to Understanding Carl Schmitt’s Constitutional Theory / Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde
From Legitimacy to Dictatorship — and Back Again: Leo Strauss’s Critique of the Anti-Liberalism of Carl Schmitt / Ellen Kennedy
Pluralism and the Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy / Dominique Leydet
Liberalism as a “Metaphysical System”: The Methodological Structure of Carl Schmitt’s Critique of Political Rationalism / Reinhard Mehring
Carl Schmitt and the Paradox of Liberal Democracy / Chantal Mouffe
PART II: LEGAL THEORY AND POLITICS
Carl Schmitt on Sovereignty and Constituent Power / Renato Cristi
The 1933 “Break” in Carl Schmitt’s Theory / Ingeborg Maus
The Dilemmas of Dictatorship: Carl Schmitt and Constitutional Emergency Powers / John P. McCormick
Revolutions and Constitutions: Hannah Arendt’s Challenge to Carl Schmitt / William E. Scheuerman
Carl Schmitt’s Internal Critique of Liberal Constitutionalsim:
Verfassungslehre as a Response to the Weimar State Crisis / Jeffrey Seitzer
Notes on Contributors
Index
Über den Autor / die Autorin
David Dyzenhaus is Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto and author of Legality and Legitimacy: Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, and Hermann Heller in Weimar.
Zusammenfassung
Presents a balanced response to Carl Schmitt critique of liberalism. This book describes the varying engagements and confrontations with Schmitt's work. It is suitable for political philosophers, legal theorists, historians, and for those interested in Schmitt's relevance to the discussions of liberalism.
