Written during the chaos of the early Weimar Republic, it reflects a fear of anarchy and a longing for authoritarian leadership to restore order.
Establishes the link between sovereignty and the exception.
The book famously opens with the line: "Sovereign is he who decides on the exception". Schmitt argues that the true sovereign is not the one who makes laws during normal times, but the one who decides when a state of emergency exists and how to handle it. Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concep...
Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty is a foundational, yet highly controversial, work of legal and political theory written by German jurist Carl Schmitt in 1922. It was published in English by the University of Chicago Press in 1985, translated and edited by George Schwab. Core Arguments and Key Concepts
Schmitt contends that legal orders cannot account for every scenario. The "exception" (or state of emergency) reveals the limits of law, where the sovereign must step outside the legal framework to save the state. Written during the chaos of the early Weimar
Schmitt was a member of the Nazi party, and his work, while intellectually influential, is closely tied to his support of authoritarianism.
Schmitt argues that modern political concepts are actually secularized theological concepts. For instance, the absolute sovereign takes the place of the omnipotent God in the creation of order. Schmitt argues that the true sovereign is not
The book remains a key text for understanding decisionism , authoritarianism, and the critique of liberal constitutionalism. If you're studying this text, Explain the "Decisionism" concept further? Provide context on his follow-up, Political Theology II ?