The Quiet Ambitions of a German Academic

Why is Carl Schmitt one of the most widely read political theorists of the twentieth century? A lifelong antisemite, a petty careerist, a Nazi ideologue who only avoided being tried at Nuremberg because he wasn’t considered important enough, Schmitt was an unlikely candidate for canonical fame. And yet from today’s perspective, few other authors present as many opportunities to think through the struggles of the twentieth century. From the besieged cities of the First World War to the global delusions of the Cold War superpowers, the stuff of Schmitt’s thought both excites and repels, forcing us to face a world in which liberal democracy is the enemy and fool. 

Join Lars Vinx and Samuel Zeitlin as they travel in time from Schmitt’s early years in Catholic Westphalia to his spectral afterlife in today’s divided world, shedding light on his theories of dictatorship, the political, sovereignty, and law.