From the Concept to the Content of the Political

• In Event: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory I

Abstract

This essay counters the legal decisionist jurisprudence of Carl Schmitt with the democratic theory of Franz Neumann, whose most recognized work in the field is Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism (1942). Schmitt's rhetoric echoes today in undemocratic, anti-parliamentarian factions and power structures in the modern world. After presenting an exegesis, analysis, and critique of Schmitt's rhetoric in seminal works, including the Concept of the Political (1932), I offer a synoptic view of Neumann's works that offer both a compelling critique of decisionism and an infusion of democratic content into Schmitt’s concept of the political. In so doing, this essay hopes and intends to contribute to the collaborative project in rethinking, critiquing, and renewing the meaning of democracy, navigating its historical ambiguities, and rescuing its content by disentangling it from undemocratic, anti-republican rhetoric.

Author

• Kyle Jones, Northwestern University