Themes of Carl Schmitt

The first contribution is given by Paul Hirst a professor of social theory at Birbeck College, a basic overview where he characterizes Schmitts ideas as decisionism and his major themes as taking issue with 20th century liberal democracies. Schmitt takes issue with parliamentarianism for mistaking politics for a kind of utopic ideal speech situation that doesn't exist because any political inside requires a political outside. He is equally contemptuous of liberal-constitutionalism for rendering the state impotent by a rule-bound legalism. These theories presuppose an already existing state but fail to recognize how the state arises and continues by means of political struggle and thus cannot comprehend the extra-legality of true state sovereignty. Because the construction of any inside presupposses and outside, politics is the relationship of enmity between freinds and enemies, and a process of statecraft cannot rely on any certain rational or legality but instead is dependent on the capacity of the sovereign to decide and uphold power. These are the dynamic tensions that Hirst seems to consider somewhat alien to internal workings of modern day democracies, but very relevant to Foreign policy relations especially in the field of nuclear proliferation.