The World of Political Carl Schmitt
( Pp. 15-22)
More about authors
Zubov Vadim V.
Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Leading Researcher; associate professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications, associate professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Social and Humanitarian Sciences; Bauman Moscow State Technical University
Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
Moscow, Russian Federation
Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
Moscow, Russian Federation
Abstract:
The article explores the political and ontological features of the views of the 20th century German political thinker and legal scholar Carl Schmitt. Using the methods of narrativization, classification, logical-philosophical reflection, analysis, clustering, political-conceptual comparativism and historical analogy, the author characterizes Schmitt’s interpretation of the metaphysics of power as a confrontation between “friends” and “enemies”, explicates the concepts of the Sovereign and the state of exception, and offers logical-philosophical reminiscences of C. Schmitt’s political worldview based on the theoretical and political discourse of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is established that C. Schmitt’s ontology of politics appears as a condition of permanent struggle between conflicting forces seeking to acquire or retain power, which prescribes the complete subordination of all political phenomena – from institutions themselves to ethical evaluations of the political – to the continuity of the confrontation between “friends” and “enemies”. It is noted that the ideal of the Sovereign occupies a crucial place within Schmitt’s system of political ontology, since it is the Sovereign who acts as the driving force of the existential processes of power relations, understood as a clash of antagonistic actors, brought to the extreme of disagreement. Referring to E. Gentile’s concept of political religion, G. Morgenthau’s realistic theory of international relations, and contemporary approaches to the analysis of political manipulation, the author observes that C. Schmitt’s political-ontological construct, in explicit or implicit form, was in demand both in 20th century political science and in contemporary political and international relations theory. In conclusion, it is concluded that the world of political Carl Schmitt can be described in the most general terms through the category of extreme.
How to Cite:
Zubov, V.V. (2026). The world of political Carl Schmitt. Sociopolitical Sciences, 16(1), 15–22. DOI: 10.33693/2223-0092-2026-16-1-15-22. EDN: LGCLVI
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Garanov E.N. State-legal ideas of C. Schmitt. Jurist-Pravoved. 2007. No. 2 (21). Pp. 77–80. (In Rus.)
Hobbes T. Leviathan. Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2016. 672 p. ISBN: 978-5-386-09252-9.
Guzikova M.O. Decision or law: Sovereignty according to Carl Schmitt. Society and Power. 2015. No. 3 (53). Pp. 45–49. (In Rus.). EDN: UBFNEB.
Gentile E. Political religions: Between democracy and totalitarianism. St. Petersburg: Vladimir Dal, 2021. 397 p. EDN: VOCNUQ. ISBN: 978-5-93615-261-0.
Erokhov I.A. Ideological theology of Carl Schmitt. History and Modernity. 2019. No. 3. Pp. 24–48. (In Rus.). EDN: HDFRKL.
Zubov V.V. Social contract: History and modernity. Sociopolitical Sciences. 2023. Vol. 13. No. 6. Pp. 31–40. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.33693/2223-0092-2023-13-6-31-40. EDN: AFFODE.
Zubov V.V., Filippov A.R. Political philosophy of Nazism and the banking system of the Third Reich: Finance and expansion. Contemporary Philosophical Research. 2025. No. 1. Pp. 40–54. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.18384/2949-5148-2025-1-40-54. EDN: FQTKXV.
Lasswell H.D. Propaganda technique in the World War. Moscow: INION RAS, 2021. 237 p. ISBN: 978-5-248-00994-7.
Marx K., Engels F. Principles of Communism. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Moscow: ITRK, 2007. 68 p. ISBN: 978-5-88010-230-1.
Myurberg I.I. Discourse of violence: C. Schmitt vs. H. Arendt. Vlast’ (Power). 2010. No. 5. Pp. 42–45. (In Rus.). EDN: MBGDRZ.
Novikov O.G., Filippov A.R. Mechanisms of manipulation of public consciousness. Vlast’ (Power). 2024. No. 3. Pp. 94–100. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.24412/2071-5358-2024-3-94-100. EDN: NWZSZR.
Sedykh N.N. Limits of power in Thomas Hobbes’ concept of the “Sovereign”. Education and Law. 2019. No. 4. Pp. 239–243. (In Rus.). EDN: AJSAXF.
Smirnov A.A. Schmitt protects the fuhrer. Logos. 2012. No. 5 (89). Pp. 87–98. (In Rus.). EDN: RVRGLR.
Filippov A.R. Political ideology as a kind of manipulation. Vlast’ (Power). 2024. No. 3. Pp. 133–139. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.24412/2071-5358-2024-3-133-139. EDN: IKDRMX.
Filippov A.R., Novikov O.G. Theoretical approaches to the study of social consensus. Sociopolitical Sciences. 2023. Vol. 13. No. 5. Pp. 13–28. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.33693/2223-0092-2023-13-5-13-28. EDN: XXUJSY.
Schmitt C. The concept of the political. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2016. 568 p. ISBN: 978-5-02-039572-5.
Yudin N.V. Key Concepts of C. Schmitt’s political theology: Sovereign, decision, state of emergency. Humanitarian Vedomosti of TSPU named after L.N. Tolstoy. 2024. No. 1 (49). Pp. 17–27. (In Rus.). DOI: 10.22405/2304-4772-2024-1-1-17-27. EDN: JXEVZM.
Dahl R. A. The concept of power. Behavioral Science. 1957. Vol. 2. Pp. 201-215.
Morgenthau H.J. Politics among nations: The struggle for power and peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. 509 p. ISBN: 978-0-394-00160-9.
Keywords:
political ontology, political theology, Sovereign, state of exception, metaphysics of power.
