Carl Schmitt Today: Terrorism, Just War, and the State of Emergency by Alain de Benoist

Carl Schmitt Today: Terrorism, Just War, and the State of Emergency Reviews

• 
  Murtaza

  There is a curious contradiction within liberalism whereby its proponents sincerely believe it to be a uniquely reasonable and peaceful worldview, while at the same time ceaseless waging wars that kill people on a scale not incomparable to the crimes of the fascist and communist regimes of past that they define their identities against. Carl Schmitt was a German jurist implicated in the Nazi regime. Yet somehow this was perhaps the least interesting thing about him, as his conception of politics and analysis of liberalism's shortcomings continues to be referred to even by leftists and contemporary political powers like the Chinese Communist Party. Schmitt was an incisive critic of the violent blind spots of liberalism particularly as it pertained to foreign affairs. Unlike the premodern European tradition of Just War, in which norms were laboriously created to make conflicts as limited, mutable and "rational," as possible, Schmitt argued that liberalism represented a return to a theological view of politics in which the world is an endless battle between good (liberals) and evil (illiberals), and wherein compromise is akin to the acceptance of evil. As writers like William Cavanaugh have articulated powerfully in the past, liberalism is very good at concealing its own violence by portraying it as inevitable and just, while the violence of its opponents, even when it occurs on a far smaller scale, is viewed as an unconscionable affront: a worldly manifestation of evil.
  
  This book deals with the question of whether American neoconservatives were influenced by Schmitt. The answer is a resounding no. Unlike Schmitt and other traditional conservative thinkers, the neocons function on a decidedly optimistic view of human nature, both their own and that of others. They adhere to aspects of the Friend/Enemy distinction but then take a theological view of politics as a manichean moral struggle in which genuine concession and negotiation is impossible. As a result they have helped midwife and legitimate the world of U.S. "forever wars" that we witness today. Rather than a world of multipolar political units which do not interfere in one another's internal affairs and instead negotiate, sometimes using limited violence, a modus vivendi between themselves, the neocons treat the entire planet as one zone of action and their military violence as a form of "policing" to make the world safe for liberalism. Such a posture has been enabled by technological changes that have led to air power becoming the defining way of war, thereby effacing borders and leaving no area of the world potentially out of reach of the violent capabilities of this totalizing ideology. Space will likely be the next frontier of this conflict.
  
  This book is a decent primer on some of Schmitt's ideas. For those looking to plow further, a lot is being written in magazines and elsewhere today about his resilient influence. There is also "The Enemy," by Gopal Balakrishnan, which was my entrée to Schmitt and which I am coming to value more and more as time passes.
• 
  AC

  I ask again — could some Librarian kindly add de Benoist’s book on Éduard Berth (see below for link) so that I can mark it as currently reading. It is very good. Thanks in advance!
  
  
  Again — could some librarian PLEASE log this book for me on Goodreads? I would be very appreciative:
  https://www.amazon.fr/Édouard-Berth-s...
  
  
  Would some librarian be kind enough to list this book:
  https://www.amazon.fr/Édouard-Berth-s...
  
  as I am currently reading it. Thanks in advance.
• 
  Villllllla

  Conciso, coerente, eloquente, Benoist apresenta uma leitura contemporânea das problemáticas levantadas por Schmitt. Não só seria uma boa introdução a Schmitt, é um pequeno caminho e resumo de algumas das mais relevantes ideias da sua obra, sendo também relevante como uma apresentação de visões geopolíticas. Para além do mais, Benoist demonstra uma interessante síntese entre os pensadores pós-modernos esquerdistas, mas também uma visão mais tradicional a partir de Schmitt. Neste pequeno livro, ficamos também acima de tudo assoberbados, mais do que pelos seus pensamentos, pelas suas leituras.
  
  Só posso recomendar a leitura deste pequeno texto a quem tenha interesse por qualquer parcela do mundo da política.
• 
  Duarte Branquinho

  Carl Schmitt (1888 – 1985), alemão e católico, foi jurista, filósofo, politólogo e professor universitário. Um intelectual de alta craveira cuja obra e pensamento influenciaram vários autores. A sua breve aproximação ao III Reich, entre 1933 e 1936, valeu-lhe, para alguns, a classificação de “filósofo maldito”, mas o valor inegável do seu trabalho acabou por ser reconhecido. Como escreveu Alain de Benoist, “Schmitt faz parte desses autores e teóricos da direita alemã cuja atitude em relação ao nacional-socialismo foi, pelo menos, bastante matizada”. De facto, depois de ter sido alvo de duras críticas por parte de certas facções desse regime, renunciou a qualquer actividade que não a docente.
  Neste livro, Benoist demonstra a actualidade de Carl Schmitt e afirma: “A tese da influência de Carl Schmitt sobre os neoconservadores americanos por intermédio de Leo Strauss não passa de uma fábula. Mas há, por outro lado, uma incontestável actualidade do pensamento schmittiano, actualidade bem discernida por numerosos observadores, singularmente depois dos atentados do 11 de Setembro de 2001, que a vida internacional, bem como certas iniciativas do governo americano, não cessaram de nutrir no decurso destes últimos anos.”
  Uma obra que é o retorno a um pensador essencial.
• 
  Dimitrije Vojnov

  Pročitao sam zbirku eseja Alena de Benoe KARL ŠMIT DANAŠNJICE. Za razliku od predgovora Miše Đurkovića a rekao bih i samog Đurkovićevog opusa, ova zbirka eseja ne pobuđuje kontroverze. De Benoa, ruku na srce, kao francuski teoretičar Nove desnice, jesre predmet kontroverze ali ona se ne može prepoznati u ovoj knjizi.
  
  Kako su prevashodno levi teoretičari zagazili u teru inkognitu izučavanja Karla Šmita, tako su krenule i optužb kako je neokonzervativna politika uređenja njegovim postulatima. De Benoa se prevashodno bavi dokazivanjem kako Šmit praktično nije ni čitan od strane neokonzervativnih ideologa a i tamo gde jeste da se odstupilo od njegove ideje.
  
  Na kraju, rezultat je knjiga koja kroz osporavanje neokonzervativnof oslanjanja na Šmita iznova razjašnjava neke pojmove njegove političke teologije.
  
  De Benoin stil je francuski, povremeno previše konfliktan za moj ukus, ali u konkretnom slučaju ove zbirke sasvim zadovoljavajući.
  
  De Benoin rad treba čitati obazrivo ali KARL ŠMIT DANAŠNJICE je “bezbedna knjiga” u najboljem smislu te reči.