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 …
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 …
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 …
