The Challenge of the Exception: An Introduction to the Political Ideas of Carl Schmitt Between 1921 and 1936; Second Edition, With a New Introduction (Contributions in Political Science)

The Challenge of the Exception is the key that unlocked the ideas of Carl Schmitt, a leading political theorist and jurist who influenced the thoughts of, among others, Hannah Arendt, Carl Joachim Friedrich, Otto Kirchheimer, Hans Morgenthau, Franz Neumann, and Leo Strauss. Professor Schwab clearly articulates Schmitt's key concepts and relates their centrality to politics and the state, to the political theory of liberalism, democracy and authoritarianism, and to international relations. When Schwab treats Schmitt's interpretations of constitutional questions, for example, he shows how political theory in Germany is inextricably linked with constitutional law, legal theory, and the country's history. Not content to merely deal with Schmitt's profound contributions to twentieth-century thought, Schwab devotes considerable space to the unconscionable compromises that he made with the Third Reich. This, however, failed to help him become the political and legal theorist of Hitler's Germany. Schwab shows how the new Schmitt was suspect from the beginning and, by 1936, Schmitt the hunter had become Schmitt the hunted. Schwab's presentation of the multifaceted Carl Schmitt exposes the reader to a truly interdisciplinary excursion into the humanities and social sciences. __The Challenge of the Exception__Not content to merely deal with Schmitt's profound contributions to twentieth-century thought, Schwab devotes considerable space to the unconscionable compromises that he made with the Third Reich. This, however, failed to help him become the political and legal theorist of Hitler's Germany. Schwab shows how the new Schmitt was suspect from the beginning and, by 1936, Schmitt the hunter had become Schmitt the hunted. Schwab's presentation of the multifaceted Carl Schmitt exposes the reader to a truly interdisciplinary excursion into the humanities and social sciences. Introduction to the Second Edition Preface Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction 1. Biographical Sketch 2. Intellectual Heritage Part One. Schmitt and the Weimar Constitution: 1921-1933 I. The Meaning of Dictatorship II. The Meaning of Sovereignty III. The Meaning of Democracy and Liberalism IV. The Meaning of the Présidial System V. Hitler Conquers Weimar Part Two. Schmitt and National Socialism: 1933-1936 VI. State, Movement, People VII. Concrete - Order Thinking VIII. Army, Parly, State IX. Theology, Defeat, and the Benito Cereno Myth Conclusion Bibliography Index of Names Subject Index George Schwab. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [151]-160).