Carl Schmitt, Liberalism, and Post-Modern Conservatism

“The practice of politics is always a form of violence, whether literal or figurative, as different groups of friends and enemies attempt to overcome one another and seize control of the state.”

In today’s climate of political partisanship, many are debating what constitutes legitimate political disagreement and rational discourse about politics. Liberals and their defenders are increasingly pressed by post-modernist movements from the left. And, as we shall see, they are also pushed by those on the right, who do not hold to traditional liberal values about the importance of free speech and inquiry. Most liberal thinkers blame their opponents for these tendencies.

It is important to evaluate whether this is true or not, or whether recent trends demonstrate a more fundamental problem within liberalism itself. Here the work of Carl Schmitt can be exceptionally helpful. In this article, drawn from material from my forthcoming book Overcoming False Necessity: Making Human Dignity Central to Human Rights Law, I discuss how Schmitt can help us understand why and how right-wing, quasi-authoritarians invoking identity have been able to seize power in liberal states.

Schmitt was a Nazi theorist who was exceptionally critical of social difference, had a lifelong distrust of Marxism and other trends in egalitarian thought, and expressed consistent anti-Semitic and pro-German sentiments. Yet his work has enjoyed an explosion of interest with everyone from political moderates like Jurgen Habermas to more radical thinkers such as Agamben and Zizek, who have offered commentary on his work. Indeed, some thinkers like Agamben have even formulated their entire theoretical project in relation to Schmitt. This demonstrates the need to have a more comprehensive understanding of his work to see why it remains intriguing to so many left-wing theorists, who seem like they should be naturally repelled by it.

The reason why Schmitt’s thought remains attractive is complex. Part of its popularity can be explained by his dramatic and powerful stylistic gifts. Outside of Nietzsche, few German thinkers have established so many provocative and imagistic statements.  Another reason for the attraction is Schmitt’s ongoing use of foil for thinkers.