The Challenge of the Exception: An Introduction to the Political Ideas of Carl Schmitt Between 1921 and 1936, 2nd Edition

This book discusses 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 aims to articulate Schmitt’s key concepts and relate 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 intends to show how political theory in Germany is inextricably linked with constitutional law, legal theory and the country’s history. The book deals with Schmitt’s contributions to 20th century thought and Schwab considers the unconscionable compromises that he made with the 3rd 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 has become Schmitt the hunted.