Politiikka valtion jälkeen: Carl Schmitt, Eurooppa ja uusi pluralismi
Abstract
Politics after the state: Carl Schmitt, Europe and a new pluralism
This paper examines the downfall of the state as the traditional political concept during the twentieth-
century by delivering a critical analysis of the writings of the German political theorist and
lawyer Carl Schmitt. I argue that Schmitt can be interpreted as a thinker of international relations
who develops an original vision of a global political order beyond the Westphalian model. The aim
of this article is to show that Schmitt is one of the founding fathers of contemporary Pan-European
nationalism and a thinker who envisions a politically unified Europe as one of the potential rising
superpowers already early in the twentieth-century. Dividing Schmitt’s oeuvre into four different
periods, I examine how his thinking develops and how his writings respond to different political
crises and situations, beginning from the Weimar period all the way into the 1970s. To conclude, I
explore the actuality of Schmitt’s ideas from today’s perspective, arguing that while we must be
deeply critical of Schmitt’s works, he nevertheless remains a timely thinker who recognizes that
politics must be more than economics. Schmitt reminds us of the fundamental importance and
constitutive role of ideas to the field of politics.
