The State of Emergency and the State Without a Name in Carl Schmitt’s Thought: A Proposal for Radical Separation

2019 ◽  
pp. 174387211988716
Author(s):  
Wojciech Engelking
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Different Types

The concept of the state of emergency is one of the most frequently evoked elements from Carl Schmitt’s thought. In discussions which are referring to it, however, the conceptualization of the state of emergency, which Schmitt proposed in his juridical comment on Article 48 of the Weimar Republic’s constitution, is often linked with the theory of Ausnahmezustand. In this article I propose to separate the state of emergency from Ausnahmezustand. The main difference between the two consists in the different types of legitimacy. The state of emergency from the Constitution of the Weimar Republic finds its legitimacy in this document, however, read by Schmitt in a way that in his Constitutional Theory, he referred to it as relativization. To find legitimacy of the state without a name, one must refer to Schmitt’s political theology as not just a proposal rooted in the faith in Revelation.

scholarly journals Stan wyjątkowy i stan bez nazwy w myśli Carla Schmitta. Propozycja rozdzielenia

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Wojciech Engelking
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
The State ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
The One

The concept of a state of emergency is one of the most frequently cited elements of the thought of the German philosopher of the law and political theorist Carl Schmitt. In its discussions, however, the conceptualization of the state of emergency, which Schmitt proposed in 1924 in his juridical comments on Article 48 of the Weimar Republic’s constitution, is often linked with the theory of Ausnahmezustand from Political Theology (1922). Such a juxtaposition is a mistake, because Schmitt was not a consistent thinker and his texts can be mutually contradictory. I propose, therefore, to separate the state of emergency from Ausnahmezustand – translated from German literally as a state without a name. The main difference between them consists in the different types of legitimacy. The state of emergency from the Constitution of the Weimar Republic finds its legitimacy in this document from 1919, however, read by Schmitt in a way that in his Constitutional Theory (1928) he referred to as relativization of the constitution. For the state without a name, as not being included in the legal order and the equivalent of a miracle in theology, such legitimacy is impossible. In order to find it, one must refer to other Schmitt’s works than the strictly judicial ones. I believe that the state without a name may be legally valid – in a word: not a coup d’état – if we acknowledge that Schmitt’s political theology is not just a methodological project that translates theological notions into political and legal ones, but a wider proposal rooted in the faith in Revelation. Therefore, this figure from the work of the German thinker in which the state of emergency finds its legitimacy is taken from St. Paul’s letters; it is the figure of a katechon: the one who comes and stops the world from disintegration. The use of such legitimacy emphasizes the reluctance to accept modernity, which Schmitt did exhibit, and presents him as a thinker who continued the medieval way of thinking, which is completely incompatible with the strictly modern concept of a state of emergency.

Postlude Pardoning and Liberal Constitutionalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 249-274
Author(s):  
Bernadette Meyler
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Liberal Constitutionalism

Its historical association with monarchical sovereignty has tarred pardoning with an illiberal brush. This Postlude examines Carl Schmitt’s Constitutional Theory, Political Theology and other writings to argue that the pardon resembles the sovereign decision on the state of exception. The vision of pardoning as opposed to liberal constitutionalism dates further back than Schmitt, however; it appears as well in the writings of Immanuel Kant, one of the foundational figures of modern liberalism. Only by disassociating pardoning from sovereignty can it be reconciled with constitutionalism. The Postlude concludes by turning to the work of Hannah Arendt as one source for a non-sovereign vision of pardoning.

The state of emergency in the Weimar Republic Legal disputes over Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution

2010 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 135-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc de Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Positivism ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Norms

AbstractThe article analyzes the debate on 'constitutional dictatorship' that took place at the first annual conference of the Association of German Constitutional Lawyers in Jena in 1924. In their keynote lectures, Carl Schmitt and Erwin Jacobi argued that Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution authorized the President of the Reich to derogate from the rule-of-law provisions of the constitution if this was necessary to save its 'political substance'. Advocating a 'doctrine of derogation', they implicitly criticized one of the main methodological assumptions of legal positivism, i.e., that legal norms and politics, law and power, had to remain strictly separated. They thereby set the stage for the emerging 'conflict of methods and directions' that was to haunt German jurisprudence in subsequent years.

“I'd make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson's Catiline His Conspiracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Legal Procedures ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.

Japanese-language videos on YouTube as a source of public health information for COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The State ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Spread Of Infection

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.

scholarly journals Authoritarian Liberalism: From Schmitt via Ordoliberalism to the Euro

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 747-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Bonefeld
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Concentrated Force ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Strong State ◽  
The Relationship

The contribution examines the market liberal veracity of Hayek’s view that a dictatorship may be more liberal in its policies than an unlimited democratic assembly. Hayek’s warning about the potentially illiberal character of democratic government is key to the German ordoliberal thinking that emerged in the context of the crisis of the Weimar Republic. The ordoliberal thinkers were keenly aware of Schmitt’s political theology and argued with him that the state is the predominant power in the relationship between market and state, conceiving of this relationship as free economy and strong state. They maintained that the establishment of social order is the precondition of free economy; law does not apply to disorder and does not create order. The liberal state is the ‘concentrated force’ of that order. The contribution argues that ordoliberalism is best characterized as an authoritarian liberalism and assesses its contemporary veracity in relation to the European Union.

Atomization of Liquids by Means of a Rotating Cup

1950 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. O. Hinze ◽  
H. Milborn
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Drop Size ◽  
Film Formation ◽  
Angular Speed ◽  
The State ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Drop Formation ◽  
Dimensionless Groups ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Centrifugal Action

Abstract Liquid, supplied through a stationary tube to the inner part of a rotating cup widening toward a brim, flows viscously in a thin layer toward this brim and is then flung off, all by centrifugal action. The flow within this layer and the disintegration phenomena occurring beyond the brim have been studied, experimentally as well as theoretically. A formula has been derived for the thickness and for the radial velocity of the liquid layer within the cup, which proved to agree reasonably well with experimental results. Three essentially different types of disintegration may take place around and beyond the edge of the cup designated, respectively, by: (a) the state of direct drop formation; (b) the state of ligament formation; and (c) the state of film formation. Which one of these is realized depends upon working conditions. Transition from state (a) into (b), or of state (b) into state (c) is promoted by an increased quantity of supply, an increased angular speed, a decreased diameter of the cup, an increased density, an increased viscosity, and a decreased surface tension of the liquid. The experimental results have been expressed in relationships between relevant dimensionless groups. For the state of ligament formation a semiempirical relationship has been derived between the number of ligaments and dimensionless groups determining the working conditions of the cup. Results of drop-size measurements made for the state of ligament formation as well as for the state of film formation show that atomization by mere rotation of the cup is much more uniform than commonly achieved with pressure atomizers.

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