Ebook: Political Theology : Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty

Written in the intense political and intellectual tumult of the early years of the Weimar Republic, Political Theology develops the distinctive theory of sovereignty that made Carl Schmitt one of the most significant and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century. Focusing on the relationships among political leadership, the norms of the legal order, and the state of political emergency, Schmitt argues in Political Theology that legal order ultimately rests upon the decisions of the sovereign. According to Schmitt, only the sovereign can meet the needs of an "exceptional" time. Read more... Contents; Foreword; Introduction; Preface to the Second Edition (1934); 1. Definition of Sovereignty; 2. The Problem of Sovereignty as the Problem of the Legal Form and of the Decision; 3. Political Theology; 4. On the Counterrevolutionary Philosophy of the State (de Maistre, Bonald, Donoso Cortes); Index