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Political Theology – Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty

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Written during the unrest of the early Weimar Republic, Political Theology by Carl Schmitt offers a profound theory of sovereignty that shaped twentieth-century political thought. Schmitt examines the interplay between political leadership, legal norms, and states of emergency, arguing that the sovereign's decisions underpin legal order, especially in exceptional circumstances where normal laws must be transcended to restore order. He insists that the state’s primary aim is to maintain stability amid potential conflict and critiques liberalism for its depoliticisation of essential political decisions. This edition includes key insights from Tracy B. Strong and George Schwab.
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Recommended for students and scholars of political philosophy, law, and history seeking a critical exploration of sovereignty and the limits of liberalism in modern political theory.

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Written in the intense political and intellectual tumult of the early years of the Weimar Republic, this book develops the distinctive theory of sovereignty that made Carl Schmitt one of the most significant and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century. Schmitt concludes this book with a critique of liberalism.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Written in the intense political and intellectual tumult of the early years of the Weimar Republic, Political Theology develops the distinctive theory of sovereignty that made Carl Schmitt one of the most significant and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century.

Focusing on the relationships among political leadership, the norms of the legal order, and the state of political emergency, Schmitt argues in Political Theology that legal order ultimately rests upon the decisions of the sovereign. According to Schmitt, only the sovereign can meet the needs of an "exceptional" time and transcend legal order so that order can then be reestablished.

Convinced that the state is governed by the ever-present possibility of conflict, Schmitt theorizes that the state exists only to maintain its integrity in order to ensure order and stability. Suggesting that all concepts of modern political thought are secularized theological concepts, Schmitt concludes Political Theology with a critique of liberalism and its attempt to depoliticize political thought by avoiding fundamental political decisions.

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β€œPolitical Theology is about the nature, and thus about the prerogatives, of sovereign political authority in the West.... It is perhaps the piece that best serves as an introduction to Schmitt's thought.” – from the Foreword by Tracy B. Strong

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226738895

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 January 2006

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 8.0mm

Width: 134.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 188g

Pages: 116

About the Author

Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) was a legal theorist, political philosopher, and the author of Legality and Legitimacy, On the Three Types of Juristic Thought, Political Romanticism, Nomos of the Earth, Roman Catholicism and Political Form, Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, and The Concept of the Political, the last available from the University of Chicago Press.

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  • State Composition and Collapse of the Second Reich
    Newly published for the first time in English translation, Carl Schmitt’s 1934 tract, State Composition and Collapse of the Second Reich: The Victory of the Bourgeois Citizen over the Soldier, is an important addition to the corpus of Schmitt’s work in English. Written and published at the height of Carl Schmitt's entanglement with National Socialism, this work outlines Schmitt’s historical...
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  • The Concept of the Political – Expanded Edition
    In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism’s basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the stateβ€”a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George Schwab’s introduction to his translation of the 1932 German edition highlights Schmitt’s intellectual journey through the turbulent period of...
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  • The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes
    One of the most significant political philosophers of the twentieth century, Carl Schmitt is a deeply controversial figure who has been labelled both Nazi sympathiser and modern-day Thomas Hobbes. First published in 1938, The Leviathan in the State Theory of Thomas Hobbes used the Enlightenment philosopher’s enduring symbol of the protective Leviathan to address the nature of modern statehood. A...
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  • Dictatorship
    Now available in English for the first time, Dictatorship is Carl Schmitt’s most scholarly book and arguably a paradigm for his entire work. Written shortly after the Russian Revolution and the First World War, Schmitt analyses the problem of the state of emergency and the power of the ReichsprΓ€sident in declaring it. Dictatorship, Schmitt argues, is a necessary legal institution...
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Also by George Schwab

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  • The Concept of the Political – Expanded Edition
    In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism’s basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the stateβ€”a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George Schwab’s introduction to his translation of the 1932 German edition highlights Schmitt’s intellectual journey through the turbulent period of...
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Also by Tracy B. Strong

View all
  • The Concept of the Political – Expanded Edition
    In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism’s basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the stateβ€”a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George Schwab’s introduction to his translation of the 1932 German edition highlights Schmitt’s intellectual journey through the turbulent period of...
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    $4999
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