The International Political thought of Carl Schmitt: Terror, Liberal War and the Crisis of Global Order (Routledge Innovations in Political Theory)

279 Pages·2007·1.34 MB·English

by  Louiza Odysseos

The International Political Thought of
Carl Schmitt
Are we experiencing, at the beginning of the third millennium, the emergence of
a new nomos, or order, of the earth? This book tackles this crucial question for
International Relations by offering the first critical analysis of Carl Schmitt’s
The Nomos of the Earth and examining how this seminal text, as well as
Schmitt’s international political thought more broadly, can help us understand
the epochal changes in the international system that have arisen from the col-
lapse of the ‘Westphalian’ international order.
Schmitt’s international political thought, the book argues, provides a stepping
stone for thinking about the contemporary crisis in the order and structure of
international society by offering an alternative history of international relations,
of the genesis, achievements and demise of the ‘Westphalian system’. Writing at
a time when he believed that this spatial, political and legal order (the nomosof
the earth) had collapsed, Schmitt highlighted the advent of many of the core
concerns of contemporary global politics, such as the weakening of the state, the
emergence of US ‘imperial’ hegemony, the prevalence of a global intervention-
ist liberalism and the transformation of terrorism and warfare more generally.
The contributors to the volume give further impetus to, and expand, the
nascent debate on the significance of Schmitt’s legal and political thought for
International Relations. Moreover, they use Schmitt’s thought to reflect on the
contemporary international political environment of the global ‘War on Terror’,
the crisis in international legality, US hegemony and the emergence of new
forms of warfare. In so doing, the book encourages a critique of, and a move-
ment beyond, Schmitt.
The International Political Thought of Carl Schmittwill be of keen interest to
students and scholars of international relations, politics, law and history.
Louiza Odysseos is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University
of Sussex, UK. Fabio Petito is Fellow in International Relations at the School
of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and also teaches Inter-
national Relations at the University ‘L’Orientale’ in Naples, Italy.
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David van Mill
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Critical perspectives in political theory and practice
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AvigailEisenberg
24 The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt
Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order
Edited by Louiza Odysseos and Fabio Petito
The International
Political Thought of
Carl Schmitt
Terror, liberal war and the crisis of
global order
Edited by Louiza Odysseos and
Fabio Petito
First published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2007 Louiza Odysseos and Fabio Petito for selection and editorial
matter; individual contributors, their contributions
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2007.
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
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from the publishers.
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ISBN10: 0-203-96414-4 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-41754-9 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-96414-9 (ebk)
Contents
Notes on contributors ix
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction: the international political thought of
Carl Schmitt 1
LOUIZA ODYSSEOS AND FABIO PETITO
PART I
Carl Schmitt’s heterodoxinternational thought 19
1 The ‘realist institutionalism’ of Carl Schmitt 21
ALESSANDRO COLOMBO
2 Geopolitics and grosspolitics: from Carl Schmitt to
E. H. Carr and James Burnham 36
MIKA LUOMA-AHO
3 From humanized war to humanitarian intervention:
Carl Schmitt’s critique of the Just War tradition 56
CHRIS BROWN
PART II
The crisis of order (nomos) in the post-9/11 era 71
4 Global terrorism and the state of permanent exception:
the significance of Carl Schmitt’s thought today 73
ALAIN DE BENOIST
5 Partisan warfare, terrorism and the problem of a new
nomosof the earth 97
GARY L. ULMEN
viii Contents
6 War, violence and the displacement of the political 107
LINDA S. BISHAI AND ANDREAS BEHNKE
7 Crossing the line? Carl Schmitt on the ‘spaceless
universalism’ of cosmopolitanism and the War on Terror 124
LOUIZA ODYSSEOS
PART III
Searching for a new nomosof the earth 145
8 Carl Schmitt’s warning on the dangers of a unipolar world 147
CHANTAL MOUFFE
9 The re-emerging notion of Empire and the influence of
Carl Schmitt’s thought 154
DANILO ZOLO
10 Against world unity: Carl Schmitt and the Western-centric
and liberal global order 166
FABIO PETITO
11 The evolution of European Union law and Carl Schmitt’s
theory of the nomosof Europe 185
J. PETER BURGESS
PART IV
Critical rereadings of Carl Schmitt’s international thought 203
12 A terrifying world without an exterior: Carl Schmitt and
themetaphysics of international (dis)order 205
MIKA OJAKANGAS
13 The ethos of insecure life: reading Carl Schmitt’s existential
decisionism as a Foucauldian ethics 222
SERGEI PROZOROV
14 Nomos: word and myth 242
MITCHELL DEAN
Index 259
Contributors
Andreas Behnke is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International
Relations at the University of Reading. He is the author of articles in the
International Journal of Peace Studies, Millennium and Zeitschrift für Inter-
nationale Beziehungen. His research interests include Critical Security
Studies, Security and Globalisation, Critical Geopolitics, and Critical Inter-
national Relations Theory.
Linda S. Bishai is Senior Program Officer in the Education Program at the
United States Institute of Peace where she focuses on university education in
international relations, conflict resolution, human rights and peace studies.
She is the author of articles in the Journal of International Relations and
Development and Cooperation and Conflict. Before working at the Institute,
she was an Assistant Professor at Towson University, where she taught Inter-
national Relations, International Law, the Use of Force, and Human Rights.
Her research interests include identity politics, international human rights law
in domestic courts and the impact of the Nuremberg trials on the develop-
ment of international law.
Chris Brownis Professor of International Relations and Convenor of the Inter-
national Relations Department at the London School of Economics. He is the
author of Sovereignty, Rights and Justice (2002) and Understanding Inter-
national Relations (3rd edn, 2005) and co-editor of International Relations
and Political Thought (2002) as well as numerous articles and book chapters
on international political theory. His current project is on human nature, cul-
tural diversity and international political theory.
J. Peter Burgess is Research Professor at the International Peace Research
Institute, Oslo (PRIO). He leads its Security Programme and edits Security
Dialogue. He is the editor of Museum Europa: The European Cultural Her-
itage between Economics and Politics (2003) and author of Culture and
Rationality: European Frameworks of Norwegian Identity(2001).
Alessandro Colombois Professor of International Relations in the University of
Milan and the author of essays on the conceptual aspects of international
politics and the specifics of regional security problems in Europe. His books