Carl Schmitt - Softcover

Scheuerman, William E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847694186 ISBN 13: 9780847694181

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999

Synopsis

Until the publication of this pathbreaking book, most scholarly studies of Carl Schmitt offered an oversimplistic, apologetic account of Schmitt's intellectual and political sympathies to Nazi fascism, or they crudely criticized his ideas by caricaturing them. In this full-length study in English of Germany's most influential authoritarian right-wing political and legal thinker, award-winning political theorist William E. Scheuerman examines in close detail the profound impact of Schmitt's critique of the liberal rule of law, and he describes how Schmitt's understanding of liberal jurisprudence led him to embrace National Socialism as a viable alternative to the perceived pathologies of the liberal rule of law.

Scheuerman illustrates how, in the aftermath of World War II, influential political theorists, particularly Schumpter, Hayek, and Morgenthau, imported Schmitt's ideas into American political discourse. Although none of these writers were followers of Schmitt, each one engaged in a "hidden dialogue" with him that shaped important facets of the intellectual discourse in postwar America. Carl Schmitt is an original, engaging study that will be of great value to political theorists and those interested in twentieth-century intellectual history and political philosophy.

About this title

About the Author

William E. Scheuerman is associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota and the author of Between the Norm and the Exception: The Frankfurt School and The Rule of Law (MIT) and The Rule of Law Under Siege (California).

Review

Scheuerman's book successfully debunks Schmitt's and his apologists' pretensions while illuminating Schmitt's critiques of liberal democracy and the rule of law. Scheuerman's argument is compelling. (David Dyzenhaus Journal Of Ethics)

Scheuerman's Carl Schmitt: The End of Law is a clear and informative study of the man recently dubbed Crown Jurist of the Third Reich. (Busch, Peter Perspectives On Political Science, Vol. 29, No. 2)

Accessible and wide-ranging... (History Of Political Thought)

This careful and searching inquiry into Carl Schmitt's legal theory . . . is a scholarly cry to the heart to preserve the 'indispensable virtues of the rule of law.' A very important work in legal and political theory. (A. Woodiwiss Choice)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0847694186
• ISBN 13: 9780847694181
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360