The Tyranny of Styphon’s House Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is a work of speculative fiction that centers its drama on political conflict. The novel follows Calvin Morrison, a Pennsylvania state trooper who is accidentally transported into a parallel timeline. The new world bears a resemblance to late medieval Europe. It has petty kingdoms, …
The Failures of Earth’s Globalist-Corporate Order Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy stands out in science fiction for its detailed and coherent political philosophy. Unlike many novels in the genre that focus on technology or adventure, Robinson constructs a vision of society deeply concerned with political and ecological transformation. The trilogy examines the failures of Earth’s …
Max Weber's 1919 lecture Politics as a Vocation (Politik als Beruf) stands as a cornerstone of modern political sociology, dissecting the essence of political action amid the upheavals of post-World War I Germany. Delivered in Munich to aspiring politicians and intellectuals, Weber's address grapples with the disenchantment of modernity, where the rationalization of society—epitomized by …
Introduction Carl Schmitt’s friend–enemy distinction, first systematically articulated in The Concept of the Political (1927/2007), remains one of the most provocative and controversial ideas in modern political theory. Rather than locating “the political” in institutions, interests, or deliberative processes, Schmitt identifies it with an existential distinction between collective “friends” and “enemies.” This framing insists that …
In this paper, I build upon my previous analyses of Aristotle's political philosophy, particularly his exploration of civic strife and regime conflict. In my 2022 article, "Aristotle on the Politeia and Its Role in His Political Science," I examined how Aristotle's concept of the politeia, or constitution, serves as the foundational structure of a polis, …
In Aristotle’s Politics, the concept of power is central to his exploration of how societies are organized, maintained, and flourish. For Aristotle, power is not merely about control or dominance but is deeply tied to the ethical and moral foundations of society. His analysis of power encompasses a wide range of contexts, including political authority, …
This essay is my additional thoughts on Carl Schmitt’s framing of the concept of the political form. I offer them to help flesh out my earlier essay. Carl Schmitt, who is one of the most provocative and influential political thinkers of the twentieth century, remains a figure of enduring debate in political thought. While he …
Introduction Carl Schmitt’s concept of politische Form—translated as “political form”—is a cornerstone of his political thought. Developed most prominently in Römischer Katholizismus und politische Form (1923) and elaborated further in Verfassungslehre (1928), the idea of political form ties together some of Schmitt’s most crucial concerns: sovereignty, authority, representation, and the structural order of political life. …
Few figures in political thought have generated as much debate, admiration, and condemnation as Niccolò Machiavelli. Reflecting that May 3rd was his birthday, I thought it a rather useful thing to offer a reflection on why he remains a very central thinker for our times, especially given his role in inaugurating a distinctively modern understanding …
In recent years, commentators and scholars have increasingly turned to the work of Carl Schmitt to make sense of Donald Trump’s brand of populist politics. Schmitt, a controversial German legal theorist and critic of liberal democracy, is best known for his assertion that “the political” is founded on the distinction between friend and enemy, and …
