Carl Schmitt: Law as Politics, Ideology and Strategic Myth

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There continues to be a remarkable revival in academic interest in Carl Schmitt's thought within politics　and social theory but this is the first book to address his thought from an explicitly legal theoretical perspective. Transcending the prevailing one-sided and purely historical focus on Schmitt’s significance for debates that took place in the Weimar Republic 1919-1933, this book addresses the actual and potential significance of Schmitt's thought for controversies　　within contemporary Anglo-American legal theory that have emerged during the past three decades. These include: the critique of liberal forms of　legal positivism; the relative　‘indeterminacy’ of legal doctrine and the need for an explicitly interpretative approach to its range of meanings, their scope and policy rationale;　the centrality of discretion and judicial law-making 　within the legal process;　the important role played by ideological prejudices and assumptions in legal reasoning; the reinterpretation of law as a form of strategically disguised politics; the legal theoretical critique of universalistic approaches to "human" rights and associated liberal-cosmopolitan 　'ideologies of humanity,' including the rhetoric of 'humanitarian intervention'; and the limitations of liberal　constitutionalism and liberalism　more generally　as an approach to law. In Carl Schmitt: Law as Politics, Ideology and Strategic Myth, the author provides an overview and assessment of Schmitt's thought, as well as a consideration of its relevance for contemporary legal thought　and debates. Cover Carl Schmitt Copyright Contents Preface Introduction Up against Carl Schmitt Part I: Law as ideology and politics Chapter 1. An afterlife for Carl Schmitt? Contemporary relevance? Chapter 2. On politics, law and ideology The politics of law and the law of politics Law as an ideological practice involving depoliticisation Liberal ideologies of legality Difficulties and contradictions with liberal ideologies An unduly narrow definition of law Exaggerating the determinacy of legal doctrine Devaluing discretion Interpretative naïveté? Misinterpreting the judicial role? The politics of ideological depoliticisation The contradictions of liberal-positivism? Liberal cosmopolitan ideologies Ideologies of humanity Law as authority, interpretation and power Conclusion PART II: Schmitt on the role and analysis of myths and counter-myths Introduction Chapter 3: Mobilising direct political action: Sorel, myths and counter-myths Chapter 4: Myths of parliamentarism Chapter 5: Leviathan: a political myth misfired? Hobbes as a case study of the importance of studying political myth-making Correcting Hobbes: contrasting meanings of leviathan The possibility of myth misfiring Leviathan as counterproductive? The slaying of leviathan A fatal concession to liberal individualism? Liberalism’s illiberal outcomes Leviathan’s instructive failure? Conclusion to Hobbes Chapter 6: Hamlet as an instructive prototype of a political myth? Hamlet as a corrective to leviathan? Studying Hamlet’s implications: themes and questions Myth and other cultural forms Myth as an ethos of ethnicity? Staging Hamlet’s off-stage history? A Hamlet–James couplet? Schism as religion Hamlet signifying sovereignty in crisis? Staging political theatre Deciding against indecision Politicising Hamlet’s depoliticisation? Hamlet’s audience as co-authors? Chapter 7: Political myths underpinning democracy Myths of national identity Dangerous political myths: Marxism, Fascism and Liberalism Taking stock of general lessons: a Schmittian concept of the mythical? Conclusion Bibliography Index