Abstract

Carl Schmitt is a key figure in modern political thought, but discussion of his work often focuses upon specific elements or themes within his texts. This book provides a wide-ranging discussion of Carl Schmitt’s discourse and provides a new perspective on his contribution, presenting the idea of Nomos of the Earth as the key idea that organizes his political and legal discourse

This book creates a ‘reverse genealogy’ of Schmitt’s theoretical system, starting from his legal and political concept of nomos so as to reconstruct his understanding of order. It connects the different topics the Carl Schmitt developed along his intellectual trajectory, which have generally been approached in separate ways by scholars: the legal theory, the concept of the political, the theory of international relations and political theology. The text considers the whole of Carl Schmitt’s work including writings that have been previously unknown to the English speaking academy; old journals with just three or four pages, newspaper articles, manuscripts of conferences, and Festschrifts. It provides a balanced examination of the whole complex of Carl Schmitt’s political discourse.
Montserrat Herrero's *The Political Discourse of Carl Schmitt: A Mystic of Order* is a bold, passionate engagement with the work of arguably the boldest and most passionate of twentieth century political philosophers. Herrero argues more convincingly than her interpretive predecessors in any language for an intellectual continuity pervading Schmitt's long career. Moreover, the substance of the red thread of this continuity--Schmitt's fixation with political theology--is perhaps more clearly articulated here than ever before. Destined to be a controversial and enlightening interpretation, this book is a must read.
John P. McCormick, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
In the vast and growing scholarship about Carl Schmitt, Herrero’s book provides a new and insightful interpretation of his political theory and her book is an essential source for all students of Schmitt as well as other scholars interested in political theology.
The Political Discourse of Carl Schmitt is one of the most ambitious monographs dedicated to Carl Schmitt on the international scale. Above all it’s a systematic presentation of the different stratas – legal, political, theological – that make up his work and the complex links that spin a web between them. It brings to light the guiding lines, often invisible, of a systematic thinking of ‘nomos’ that supports a ‘mystic of order’.
Jean-François Kervégan, Professor of Philosophy, Pantheon-Sorbonne University
Montserrat Herrero is Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Navarra, Spain, and Principal Investigator of the project “Religion and Civil Society” at the Institute Culture and Society, Spain.
This book is more than just a thorough and nuanced examination of one important theme in Carl Schmitt's work. It is an original and coherent attempt to identify the thread of continuity that runs through all of Schmitt's work and, in the process, to build a provocative case for Schmitt as a 'soldier for peace.' Anyone interested in Schmitt or political theology more generally will benefit from the wealth of scholarship represented here.
William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University