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Hostis not Inimicus: Toward a Theory of the Public in the Work of Carl Schmitt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2015

Ellen Kennedy
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Der Krieg ist durchaus nicht Ziel und Zweck oder gar Inhalt der Politik, wohl aber ist er die als reale Möglichkeit immer vorhandene Voraussetzung, die das menschliche Handeln und Denken in eigenartiger Weise bestimmt und dadurch ein spezifisch politisches Verhalten bewirkt.

In an early review of the Verfassungslehre (1928), Margit Kraft-Fuchs criticizes Carl Schmitt's argument as circular and illogical. While claiming to establish an entirely new constitutional theory, not a general theory of the state, Schmitt in fact relies on a tautology and derives “an is from an ought”. Quoting Schmitt's argument in Der Wert des Staates und die Bedeutung des Einzelnen (1914) that “The mere actuality of power at no point provides a justification unless it assumes a norm by reference to which its claim is legitimated”, Kraft-Fuchs concludes that it is “astonishing he has forgotten this basic logical insight between 1914 and 1928.”

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Research Article
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Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence , Volume 10 , Issue 1: CARL SCHMITT , January 1997 , pp. 35 - 47
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Copyright © Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 1997

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References

I am grateful to Karol Soltan and Jack Knight for comments on an earlier version of this paper and to my colleagues at The International Summer School in Political Science and International Relations in Mierki, Poland for a stimulating and supportive environment.

* ‘War is neither the aim nor the purpose nor even the very content of politics. But as an ever present possibility it is the leading presupposition which determines in a characteristic way human action and thinking and thereby creates a specifically political behavior.’ Schmitt, Carl, The Concept of the Political, trans, and intro. Schwab, George (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996) at 34.Google Scholar

1. Kraft-Fuchs, Margarit, “Prinzipielle Bemerkungen zu Carl Schmitt's Verfassungslehre” (1930) 9 Zeitschrift fur öffentliches Recht 511.Google Scholar

2. Ibid, at 512-14. Schmitt, Carl, Der Wert des Staates und die Bedeutung des Einzelnen (Tübingen: Hellerauer Verlag/Jakob Hegner, 1914).Google Scholar

3. Schmitt, Carl, Der Begriff des Politischen (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1979) at 70. Politische Theologie (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1990, first pub. 1922)Google Scholar develops a method Schmitt calls “radical conceptualization” to uncover “the ultimate, radical structure” of an intellectual world. Such an approach assumes that a conceptual construction can be compared to the social structure of a given period, so that its analysis explains why certain ideas appear as “self-evident” in a given historical period. “Metaphysics is the most intense and clearest expression of an epoch.” Ibid, at 58-60

4. It is remarkable that there is no mention in Der Begriff des Politischen of fascism despite the attention Schmitt gave it in Die geistesgeschichtliche Lage des heutigen Parlamentarismus (1923) as an ideology of equal rank to communism. Mussolini had been in power for nearly five years when Schmitt wrote Der Begriff des Politischen, and Schmitt's admiration for him extended in the book on parliamentarism to comparing Mussolini with Machiavelli: “Just as in the 16th century, an Italian has once again given expression to the principle of political realism.” The reference is to Mussolini's 10 1922 speech in Naples. Schmitt, , The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy trans, and intro. Kennedy, Ellen (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1985) at 76 Google Scholar

5. Kennedy, Ellen, “Carl Schmitt und Hugo Ball: Ein Beitrag zum Thema ‘Politischer Expressionismus’” (1988) 35 Zeitschrift für Politik 143;Google Scholar and Kennedy, Ellen, “Politischer Expressionismus: Die kulturkritischen und metaphysischen Ursprünge des Begriffs des Politischen von Carl Schmitt” in Quaritsch, Helmut, ed., Complexio Oppositorum. über Carl Schmitt (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1988) 233.Google Scholar For a review of more recent literature see Mehring, Reinhard, “Vom Umgang mit Carl Schmitt. Zur neueren Literatur” (1993) 19 Gesellschaft, und Geschichte, 388;Google Scholar and Münkler, Herfried, “Carl Schmitt in der Diskussion” (1990) 35 Neue Politische Literatur 289.Google Scholar

6. Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things. An Archeology of the Human Sciences (London & New York: Tavistock, 1970) at 21.Google Scholar

7. Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 68.Google Scholar

8. Ibid, at 54-55

9. Ibid, at 71. All translations are my own.

10. Ibid, at 73.

11. “It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this was not a ‘loyal opposition, that is, one which was prepared to operate within the existing constitutional framework and to abide by its rules. (…) [T]here existed a sizeable number of people on the Right of the political spectrum who did not consider a parliamentary Republic to be the appropriate political system for Germany or ‘fulfillment’ of Versailles the correct diplomacy. Their number was swelled by men and women from a very different social and ideological background on the extreme Left, whose proposals for the economic organization of the country could not be accommodated within the Weimar structure.” Berghahn, Volker Modern Germany. Society, Economy and Politics in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982) at 74.Google Scholar

12. Kammergerichts, Urteil des vom 12. 02 1906 (Bd, Johow. 31, 32-34) quoted in Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 22 Google Scholar

13. Reichsvereinsgesetz, Deutschen vom 19 04 1908 para. 3, sect.l In ibid, at 22-23, Schmitt, refers inter alia to Geffcken, H., “Öffentliche Angelegenheit, politischer Gegenstand und politischer Verein nach preuβischem Recht”, Festschrift für Ernst Friedberg (1908) at 287ff. Jeze, , Les principles generaux du droit administratif (1925) and Alibert, R., Le controle juridictionnel de l'administration (1926).Google Scholar

14. Smend, Rudolf, “Die politische Gewalt im Verfassungsstaat und das Problem der Staatsform” (1923) in Smend, , Staatsrechtliche Abhandlungen, (Duncker & Humblot: Berlin, 1968) at 82; Smend, refers to the decision of the Preuβ, ;. OVG, 39, 444.Google Scholar

15. Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 22.Google Scholar

16. Pareto, V., Traite de sociologie generate (French ed. 1917 & 1919, I. at 450ff & II. at 785ff.) Quoted by Schmitt, , ibid, at 22.Google Scholar

17. Smend, , supra note 14 at 72.Google Scholar

18. Ibid, at 75-76 relies on Thayer, J. P. Cases on Constitutional Law (1895) for his discussion of the issue. Among the examples given from American practice are dictatorial power in the South during Reconstruction; international relations; and expulsions from the United States. The Nixon Administration's claim of “executive privilege” is a landmark in the history of these changing concepts of political or executive powers.Google Scholar

19. Art. 48, para. 2 was used 135 times between 10 20 1919 and 04 29 1925. Poetzsch, Fritz, Vom Staatsleben unterder Weimarer Verfassung (1933/34) 21 Jahrbuch des offentlichen Rechts at 141ff. See Berghahn, , “War and Civil War 1914-1923,” supra note 11 at 38-67 for an overview of emergency powers.Google Scholar

20. Contrary to the final sentence of the Article. Under President von Hindenburg, Art.48 became a corrosive agent in the disintegration of the liberal Rechtsstaat. In the context of a “fragmented party democracy” Art. 48 grew into a “sovereign dictatorship” before Weimar finally gave way to the Third Reich. The use of emergency powers came before the Staatsgerichtshof in Preuβen contra Reich (1930) but the issue was implicit in much French and German jurisprudence throughout the 1920s. The terms “commissarial” and “sovereign” dictatorship are Schmitt's, : Die Diktatur. Von den Anfängen des modernen Souveränitätsgedanken bis zum proletarischen Klassenkampf (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1921 & 1927)Google Scholar See also Lepsius, M. Rainer, “From Fragmented Party Democracy to Government by Emergency Decree and National Socialist Takeover: Germany” in Linz, Juan & Stephen, Alfred, eds., The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Europe (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1970).Google Scholar

21. RGZ/112, supplement at 5; 11/21/1925.Google Scholar

22. It made its way into contemporary social science with Mannheim's, Karl discussion of it in Ideologic und Utopie (1929) as “the orientation point for politics”.Google Scholar

23. The phrase is Schmitt's, coined in his debate with Kelsen over “Who should be defender of the constitution?”. Schmitt, , Der Hüter Verfassung (Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1931) at 13.Google Scholar

24. Smend's conception of government as the process of integrating all social, economic, and political factors became the basis of his Verfassung und Verfassungsrecht (1928). It was the first political theory based on “integration” and was resoundingly rejected when it appeared. The reviews were so scathing that Smend never published another book, writing only articles for the rest of his life.Google Scholar

25. Heller, Hermann, “Die Krisis der Staatslehre”, Gesammelte Schriften (J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen, 1992, first pub. 1926) vol. II at 10.Google Scholar

26. Radbruch, Gustav, Grundzüge der Rechtsphilosophie (1914) at 186.Google Scholar

27. Schmitt rejects Weber's conception of politics as an effort to gain power or the “leadership of or influence over a political organization: today, the state.” Weber, Max, Politics as a Vocation. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, trans, and intro. Gerth, H.H. & Wright Mills, C. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1974) at 77.Google Scholar

28. Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 20.Google Scholar

29. Schmitt, , Politische Theorie, supra note 3 at 27.Google Scholar

30. Böckenförde, Ernst-Wolfgang, “Der Begriff des Politischen als Schlüssel zum Staatsrechtlichen Werk Carl Schmitts” in Quaritsch, H., ed., supra note 5 at 284.Google Scholar

31. Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 26.Google Scholar

32. Schmitt, ibid, at 27

33. Schmitt, , Der Begriffdes Politischen, supra note 3 at 34 Google Scholar

34. Among the enormous literature of the period glorifying war, see for example, Jünger's, Ernst novel Im Stahlgewitter (1921)Google Scholar; Kaufmann's, Erich treatise on international law, Das Wesen des Völkerrechts und die clausula rebus sic stantibus (1916). “The monstrous development of military technology today […] has made everything which had been heroic and admirable about it, personal courage and the thrill of battle, utterly meaningless.” Schmitt, ibid, at 74-75.Google Scholar

35. Schmitt, ibid., at 33.

36. Schmitt, Carl, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1985, first pub. 1926) at 49. Schmitt quotes from Histoire de la revolution de 1848.Google Scholar

37. The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, ibid, at 39.

38. “The individual forming part of a psychological crowd (…) is no longer conscious of his acts. In his case (…) certain faculties are destroyed, others may be brought to a high degree of exultation.” Among LeBon's examples of such behavior are the Crusades, juries, parliamentary assemblies and men of the French Revolutionary Convention. LeBon, Gustav The Man and His Works (Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1979) at 57-65. This edition is a reprint of the 1896 translation.Google Scholar

39. Freud, Sigmund, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, The Pelican Freud Library, vol. 12 (Civilization, Society and Religion) (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987) at 116.Google Scholar

40. Ibid, at 124. Freud refers to mass belief in the “fantastic promises” of Wilson's 14 Points and the bonding of First World War soldiers to each other and to their military commanders. Primal society was “a horde ruled over despotically by a powerful male. (…) The group appears to us as a revival of the primal horde.” Ibid, at 154-55.

41. Crowd theory became the basis of “mass society” theories of modern politics. These were considerably later than Schmitt's text, and they include: Kornhauser, William, The Politics of Mass Society (New York: Free Press, 1959)Google Scholar, Schumpeter, Joseph Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York: Harper & Bros., 1947)Google Scholar; Mills, C. Wright, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956)Google Scholar. An interesting, little-known study of the psychology of mass politics (especially political movements) is Behrendt, Richard, Politischer Aktivismus (Hirschfeld Verlag: 1932).Google Scholar

42. As a substantive, “Öffentlichkeit” (the public in German) almost never appears in Schmitt's writing, except when he is referring to liberal theories. Where Der Begriffdes Politischen refers to the public quality of the political, Schmitt uses the adjectival form of the word. “Volk” is sometimes rendered as nation into English. They are distinguished in the Verfassungslehre: “In contrast to the general concept “people”, “nation” refers to an individual people characterized by its political consciousness.” Verfassungslehre (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1989, first pub. 1928) at 231. The Weimar Constitution begins “The German people [das deutsche Volk] has given itself this constitution”—not “the public”.Google Scholar

43. The Republic, Book V, 470. I do not know if Schmitt also knew Cicero's comments on hostis: “A further point is that the name given to someone who ought properly to have been called a foe (perduellis) is in fact a hostis. I notice that the grimness of the fact is lessened by the gentleness of the word. For hostis meant to our forefathers he whom we now call a stranger. (…) What greater courteousness could there be than to call him against whom you are waging war by so tender a name?” On Duties (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) at 16.Google ScholarPubMed

44. Schmitt, , supra note 42 at 5.Google Scholar

45. These are discussed in The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy where Schmitt's fascination with communism and fascism is apparent.