OBSERVARE

Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021)

170

CARL SCHMITT AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - ACTUALITY AND

THEORETICAL POSITION

BERNARDO CALHEIROS

bernardo.calheiros@gmail.com

Master in Strategy and Graduate in International Relations. National Defense Course and Course

of Advanced Studies in Geopolitics. He was Director of Bilateral Relations Services at the Ministry

of National Defense. He was a consultant for the companies Gaporsul and Kyron Consultants. He

was part of the Board of Directors of Instituto Lusíada de Cultura. He is currently a senior advisor

at the Directorate of National Defense Policy and is a doctoral candidate in International

Relations: Geopolitics and Geoeconomics at UAL (Portugal). He is a researcher at Observare. He

belongs to the governing bodies of the Luso African Foundation for Culture.

Abstract

Carl Schmitt (1888-1885) is one of the great absentees from the university in Portugal. We

can even say that Portugal is one of the most arid landscapes existing in European lands

regarding Schmittian studies (although a reference is due, among others, to Professor

Alexandre Franco de Sá, the main disseminator and translator of his work in our country).

Author of a multifaceted oeuvre, he influenced several disciplines - constitutional and

international law, political science, history of ideas, political philosophy, and political theology

- as well as international relations and its history, geopolitics and polemology. Breaking

paradigms, he left us a "heterodox" work (Odisseos and Petito, 2007: 11), where his intuition

about the concept of the political stands out naturally; but he was also a man who lived in a

dangerous moment, in an almost permanent state of exception, who suffered temptations

and disillusions, who was judged by the authorities and, more severely, by the people.

Especially by his peers. Momentary adhesion to the Third Reich was at the basis of his

demonization and exclusion from the university (Balakrishnan, 2006: 27), he who was a

Catholic conservative and one of the central figures of the "Conservative Revolution"

movement (Mohler, 1993: 661) and even, during the Weimar Republic, tried to prevent Hitler

from coming to power.

In this article we will focus on Carl Schmitt's contribution to international relations. But why

talk about him now? Because we cannot fail to highlight - whether we agree with him or not

- his concept of the political; because we believe that some of his theorizations – the case of

the partisan or the great space - are important for the understanding of the moment we live

in, namely regarding the changing international system, helping us to understand the

emergence of the new civilization states and the concept of illiberal democracy; finally,

because works such as "The Nomos of the Earth" should be part of the canon of mandatory

readings of the discipline of International Relations.

His trajectory is well known, especially in its more controversial aspects. By way of

introduction, we will make a quick tour through his life, framing his personal evolution in the

great trends of the century. Then, we will try to analyze some central aspects of his work,

which constitute relevant contributions to the study of international relations. We will analyze

the timeliness of his thought, seeking to prove - this is our ambition - that he is a "modern"

and important author for understanding current events, and that he should be an obligatory

reference in the discipline of international relations.

Keywords

Friend/enemy, realism, decision, big space, state, war

How to cite this article

Calheiros, Bernardo (2021). Carl Schmitt and International Relations – Actuality and

theoretical position. Janus.net, e-journal of international relations. Vol12, Nº. 1, May-October

2021. Consulted [online] at date of last visit, https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.12.1.10

Article received on August 3, 2020 and accepted for publication on February 19, 2021

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

171

CARL SCHMITT AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - ACTUALITY

AND THEORETICAL POSITION

BERNARDO CALHEIROS

A troubled life

Few authors have been so praised, and vilified, as Schmitt. Some accuse him of, with his

critique of Weimar liberalism, having contributed to Hitler's rise to power, having become

the "crown jurist" of the new regime; others, looking mainly at his revolutionary intuition

about the concept of the political, emphasize instead his multiple contributions to various

sciences.

Carl Schmitt did not have a blameless career, but he was not the kronjurist of the

regime

. It is necessary to contextualize him, in time and space, in a particularly troubled

period (through two world wars) and in a Germany that was consecutively defeated and

crushed.

Born in 1888, in Plettenberg, a Catholic, he soon embarked on a career in law and as a

university professor. In the interwar period, the consequences of Versailles are felt in the

economy and in society, where unemployment and inflation reach almost unreal figures.

It is the time of demilitarization and the fighting between the French and the Spartakist

Corps, which brings to Germany a climate of civil war, and Schmitt comes close to the

"Conservative Revolution". However, his critique of liberalism, the theoretical option for

decisionism and the concept of legitimacy over legality, as well as the apology of the

defender of the Constitution, will attract the attention of the rising National Socialist

milieus. He joins the party (in 1933, the year of its rise to power, prompting accusations

of opportunism) and rises in university circles to leadership positions. However, more

than sympathy for the Nazi ideal, Schmitt adheres to the regime for its "concern for

order” (Hirst, 2011: 20). His theories, however, do not please SS

, being expelled from

the party in 1936 (Brown, 2007: 63) and choosing to resign from his university leadership

positions to devote himself to a professorship at the University of Berlin

. At the end of

Article translated by Cláudia Tavares.

"A man of fine culture, he could not be a Hitler supporter and never was. But, right-wing doctrinaire,

nationalist, full of contempt toward the Weimar Republic of which he ruthlessly analyzed the contradictions

and agony, he interpreted as a jurist Hitler's coming to power" (Aron, 2003: 650).

In the SS newspaper, Das schwarze korps, there is some rather threatening criticism (Freund, 1978: 7)

Adeel Hussain and Armin von Bogdandy consider that "the state may even have been the main reason for

the Nazi party's skepticism towards Schmitt. Their emphasis on the popular movement (Volksbewegung)

did not correspond to Schmitt's more statist point of view” (2018: 19).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

172

the war, he is released after being interrogated by the allied forces. He writes about this

experience, “Ex Captivitate Salus – Memories of 1945-47” (1950).

There are different phases in Schmitt's thought. We could distinguish three: in the first,

during the interwar period, he covers themes of Political Science and Constitutional Law

The young professor is already an avowed statist, a political realist and defender of the

nation-state. He is not, however, part of the German positivist tradition

, focusing on the

critique of liberalism and the denunciation of the state's neutrality and depoliticization.

His theoretical production is greatly influenced by political theology, still giving great

prominence to decision, as well as to the dichotomy of legality vs. legitimacy. In this

phase, he theorizes "The Concept of the Political”

. After 1933, in a second period, he

was attracted to the National Socialist regime and produced his most controversial works:

"State, Movement and People" (1933) and "The Führer Protects the Law” (1934). But he

soon became disappointed and began a third phase dedicated to reflecting on

international relations, where he produced a vast body of work including, among other

important titles, "The Nomos of the Earth in the International Law of "Jus Publicum

Europaeum"" (1950) and "Partisan Theory" (1963). His heterodoxy in relation to the

realist school becomes more evident when he adopts a systemic view marked by the

study of institutions and the use of history, which leads him to some parallels with

institutionalist and even constructivist theories.

He died in Plettenberg on April 7, 1985, in the residence he had named San Casciano,

the land where Machiavelli died, but also the name of a saint who, in the fourth century,

was killed by his pupils with the quills with which they transcribed their lessons. Schmitt

dies sad, feeling unjustly treated.

A scientific revolution

Schmitt is part of the tradition of European political realism. In the line of great thinkers

such as Thucydides (460 b.c.-400 b.c.), Marsilio of Padua (1275-1342), Nicolaus

Machiavelli (1469-1527), Jean Bodin (1530-1596), and Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679),

Schmitt is the last of the classics, influencing authors such as Hans Morgenthau (1904-

1980), Raymond Aron (1905-1983), Julien Freund (1921-1993) or Eric Voegelin (1901-

1985), among many others.

Regardless of the labels

, his theorization of the political (of the political phenomenon) is

at the origin of a scientific revolution essential to understand the world we live in. The

The main works of this period are perhaps: "Political Romanticism" (1919), "The Dictatorship" (1921),

"Political Theology" (1922), "Roman Catholicism and Political Form" (1923), "The Concept of the Political"

(1927), "Theory of the Constitution" (1928), "The Defender of the Constitution" (1931), "Legality and

Legitimacy" (1932).

In the very first sentence of "The Concept of the Political" it states that: "The concept of the state

presupposes the concept of the political”.

Benno Teschke, a theorist of the Marxist school of international relations, sees in this theorization of Schmitt,

"the attempt to define the political in terms of a friend/enemy grouping, existentialist, ontological and

agonal, served the purpose of uniting a fragmented mass democratic industrial society into a homogeneous

community against external threats and to redeem Weimar Germany's right to make war (Teschke, 2011:

187).

“Schmittian positions are a refusal of academic boundaries" (Pasquier, 2018: 57), and his followers fall

within a wide variety of theoretical schools.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

173

new paradigm takes the form of the criterion of the political: the dichotomy

friend/enemy.

In "The Concept of the Political" (1927), he would show that, just as ethics arises from

the opposition between good and evil, and aesthetics is based on the dichotomy between

the beautiful and the ugly, the political has as its criterion the opposition friend/enemy.

It is this opposition that allows us to conclude that we are facing a political phenomenon.

Schmitt here rejects positivism, by declaring the primacy of the political over the State,

inasmuch as he considers that the concept of the State presupposes the concept of the

Political. Schmitt, moreover, always puts the State in perspective, never forgetting that

it is a historical construction, made by men, which at any moment may be replaced by

another form of organization of power. Also, contrary to normativist currents, he doubts

the viability of the liberal humanist ideal leading to a future world government.

It should be noted, however, that the enemy is always a public enemy, not a private

enemy. This political enmity exists between states and is not an absolute enmity. The

enemy is considered a justus hostis, not an inimicus. It is an adversary that is respected,

that has the same rights and with whom we can negotiate peace, because, since the

conflict is regulated by Law and according to the laws of war (in force since the Peace of

Westphalia), its objective is always the return to normality, to peace.

The Westphalian system of states found this way to control war and limit its effects,

making it, according to Schmitt, akin to a duel

. On the contrary, in wars of religion, civil

wars, or "just wars" (or humanitarian wars), this enemy is considered an inimicus, an

absolute enemy from the moral point of view, with all the implications that this brings.

Schmitt's heterodox realism leads Alessandro Colombo (2007: 22) to consider him as a

representative of "realist institutionalism”

. Before, it was the highest exponent of

"Decisionism": it is the sovereign who decides the state of exception, and Benno Teschke

calls attention to "his change of position during the 1930s, from political decisionism to

concrete-order-thinking” (2011: 191)

The belief in the centrality of the nation-state as the privileged (but not unique) actor in

international relations will be shaken when one realizes that this model, which persisted

for centuries, began its decadence at the end of the 19th century, receiving a new blow

with the Treaty of Versailles, which dictates an era of neutralizations where power is

disputed by other actors and the concept of sovereignty loses relevance. The trend

becomes more pronounced after World War II.

Chantal Mouffe, self-proclaimed "left-wing Schmittian", recalls that the friend/enemy

dichotomy also applies to internal political conflict, arguing that this can happen even

within a liberal democracy, where democratic debate can only be conceived as "conflictive

consensus" since "the adversary is in a certain sense an enemy, but a legitimate enemy

towards whom there is common ground. The opponents fight against each other, but do

not question the legitimacy of their respective positions. They share a common loyalty to

See, Carl Schmitt, “Teoria del Partisano”, p. 57.

Also Alain de Benoist (2007: 142), states that "in 1934, at the moment when he partly abandons his former

decisionism to join a 'concrete order thinking' (konkretes Ordnungsdenken) […] comes close to Maurice

Hauriou's or Santi Romano's institutionalism”.

The concrete-order thinking states that "all legal orders are concrete territorial orders, founded on an

original constitutive act of land appropriation” (op. cit.: 193).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

174

the ethical-political principles of liberal democracy" (Mouffe, 2011: 15). The author is,

however, careful to use the expression "in a certain sense", and rightly so since Schmitt

would renege on this statement. The author herself recognizes this when she says that,

for Schmitt, this adversary is nothing more than a competitor or a fellow debater (op.

cit.: 16)

Land and Sea /Land und Mer. Eine Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtung

(1942)

In this markedly geopolitical work, Schmitt contrasts two realities: the Land, a localized

space organized by Law (the 'Nomos of the Earth'), demarcated by boundaries between

sovereign states that respect each other and whose disputes are regulated by Law; and

the Sea, an immense space, free and without borders, that the Law is unable to regulate

(in this initial phase of the appropriation of overseas lands by European states), which

conditions the way of waging war.

As he says, "the great historical transformations are usually accompanied by a mutation

of the image of space. The greatest "spatial revolution" was carried out in the 16th and

17th centuries by the Portuguese and the Spanish, and later the Dutch and the British,

who will give a sense of space with the demarcation lines of their respective territories.

First with the Treaty of Tordesillas, between Catholic powers and arbitrated by the Pope,

but later contested by Protestant powers and the intervention of England, which will

guarantee the freedom of the seas. As Sir Walter Raleigh states (1552 or 1554-1618):

“whoever dominates the sea, dominates world trade, and to him who dominates world

trade belong all the riches of the world and the world itself” (Schmitt, 1952: 90).

This land/sea dichotomy leads to different ways of making war, the former being

governed by law and the latter (at an early stage) unregulated. In the latter, the enemy

is no longer seen as a justus hostis but as an inimicus, leading to all-out wars - even

between European powers, but only at sea and in overseas territories - where it is

permitted to ruin the trade of the "other", with all the implications for the populations.

The land, however, ends up taking over the sea, legislating on the distinction between

figures such as the pirate and the privateer, the latter being legitimized by being

mandated by a state.

The industrial revolution will finally "change the relation of man to the sea" (op. cit.: 103)

and this is the secret of English dominance over the oceans.

In the opposition between Land and Sea, Schmitt gives natural primacy to the Land, the

telluric element where there is a nomos, an order. However, he does not forget that

three-fourths of the globe is composed of the liquid element and that, consequently, the

sea can surround the land. He quotes, by the way, the work of Admiral Castex (1878-

1968), “The sea against the land", explaining that the sea can strategically block the

land, cutting off its means of supply.

Also interesting is the reference to Admiral Mahan (1840-1914), an American, who

developed the theory that the "big island" is no longer England, but the US, the real world

power (op. cit.: 107). We are facing the sunset of European power. What was a

See also "The Concept of the Political” (Schmitt, 2015: 54).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

175

pluriversum of European powers is succeeded by a universum dominated by the global

power, the USA.

But also in "Land and Sea," Schmitt tells us about a new spatial revolution: the

emergence of airspace as strategic space, with characteristics similar to the sea. He

believes that "the airplane has changed the nature of war and military strategy by

challenging the traditional spatial concepts of war, especially the idea of 'theater of war'

and 'front,' and even the distinction between land war and naval war, and the rules

governing them” (Dean, 2007: 253).

A planetary revolution: The end of the Westphalian system of states and

the Great Spaces (Grossraum)

One of his most relevant works for international relations is "The Nomos of the Earth in

the International Law of the Jus Publicum Europaeum” (1950). Strongly marked by

geopolitics, it theorizes the end of the Westphalian system of states

, announcing the

emergence of a new North American international order, which it considers could be

countered through the concept of great spaces (Grossraum). These conclusions are based

on the historical analysis of the international order since the end of the Respublica

Christiana, passing through the advent of the nation-state, its generalization and

decadence, until the current international system, which leads to a proposal for the

rebalancing of powers and the restoration of a pluriversum of powers in the international

order.

The Westphalian nation-state, characterized by sovereignty, is an independent political

entity that interacts with other states at the international level on equal terms defined

by law (the Jus Publicum Europaeum). This is his frame of reference, Schmitt, defender

of the sovereign state, being a convinced realist from the ontological point of view

(Odysseos, 2007a: 124).

However, with the end of World War I, the League of Nations, and the criminalization of

the vanquished

, the nation-state can no longer respond to the great challenges of

modernity. A new international law arises, in which "Schmitt sees the Briand-Kellog Pact

of 1928 as representing one more step in Washington's attempt to establish its global

hegemony” (Mouffe, 2007: 149), that will materialize in the post-World War II period.

This will be the basis of the new international system, founded on the humanitarian liberal

ideology and having as safeguard instrument the concept of "just war”.

Faced with a changing nation-state, Schmitt believes that it will evolve by ceding

sovereignty to the great space (Grossraum), which will encompass the states belonging

to a particular culture or civilization and will ensure the main functions that it had. The

international system would cease to be a universum marked by North American

hegemony and would resume its condition of pluriversum, with the various great spaces

as the main actors, each of them directed by a director-state. For the theorization of this

new concept, he takes inspiration from the Monroe Theory (1823), which has the USA as

the dominant power. In Europe, the role of geopolitical center would fall to Germany as

Beginning with the League of Nations (limiting state sovereignty), as well as the Briand-Kellog Pact and the

prohibition of war.

The Treaty of Versailles, in article 227, criminalizes Kaiser William II, who will have to abdicate the throne.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

176

the main European power

, just as the Soviet Union would have Russia at its center. In

this way, it is intended to end the interference of other powers in the European continent.

Schmitt also recovers the concept of empire (Reich) as an alternative to the federal and

confederal models but stressing that "the Grossraum should not be confused with the

Reich, whose mission is only to organize the 'great space' and to protect it from any

outside intervention. In short, it admits that 'empires', and no longer nations, may

become the main actors in international relations, while warning against a simple

mechanical extension of the idea of national sovereignty to the dimension of Grossraum”

(Benoist, op. cit.: 146). The states will not necessarily disappear, for "a certain territorial

organization is preserved; but on the essential political question, that which defines

political sovereignty itself, that is the faculty of deciding who is the enemy, competence

is shifted to a higher level, that of the Reich. The line of sharing between friend and

enemy is now between large spaces rather than between states” (Pasquier, 2018: 62).

In parallel, Schmitt refers to the geopolitical importance of the emergence of "new

spaces" and the race for them by the great powers. "The race of modern physicists,

technicians, and cosmonauts is determined by the question as to who will dominate the

immeasurable new spaces," first of all the air frontier, the cosmos, and then all the others

unexplored under the oceans (Schmitt, 1962: 57). He predicts the reappearance of the

figure of the pirate, now a reality, and we can even conceive of the emergence of the

space pirate (who may soon appear). A particularly important new domain is cyberspace,

where we will encounter an irregular enemy - the computer pirate - who often has no

telluric character and obeys no rules.

With the theory of large spaces, Schmitt departs from the assumptions of classical

realism and approaches systemic realism. The study of international relations, after

World War I, is no longer centered on states, but on broader realities at the level of

systems, and the appropriation of the political by non-state actors, who take advantage

of the weakness of the state. Here Schmitt shows his originality when he talks about new

institutions and political actors and dedicates himself to a historical analysis of

international relations that will identify the nation-state as an entity in deep

transformation.

In short, "Schmitt's Nomos must be given its rightful place, side by side with other great

classics, as one of the founding texts of International Relations, correcting the non-

historicity of the discipline” (Odysseos, 2007b: 8).

Polemology: the new forms of war, the figure of the Partisan and the

excluded third party

In the old Law of the People (the jus publicum europaeum), States had equal legal status,

and war was conceived as an activity in which they fought sovereignly in defense of their

rights. The enemy was seen as a justus hostis, entitled to defend his interests

It is a concept that has nothing to do with Karl Haushofer's (1869-1946) proposals on Pan-regions and

Steering States, very much tributary to the theorizations of Lebensraum.

Bohdana Kurylo states that, "contrary to encouraging war between states, Schmitt argues that political

violence can only be justified when it is in response to a threat to a group's 'way of life” (2016: 4).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

177

The peace of Versailles, putting an end to jus publicum europaeum, inaugurates a new

international law dictated by the United States, which will have serious implications for

war:

determining relations between states, the ancient law of the people (jus publicum

europaeum) which, at the time of the treaty of Westphalia, put an end to religious wars,

conceived war as a war in which each belligerent was authorized to assert his right:

justus hostis (just enemy, i.e. legitimate), and not just cause (just cause). This is what

made it possible to contain the war within certain limits, hence the importance of the jus

in bello. Discriminatory war, resurrecting the "just war" of the Middle Ages, is a war in

which jus ad bellum prevails, on the contrary, over jus in bello. The enemy is no longer

an adversary who, under other circumstances, might well become an ally. He is now an

absolute enemy. Demonized, criminalized, considered an evil figure, he is an enemy of

humanity, who must not only be defeated, but eradicated (Benoist, 2011: w/p).

This evolution of war produces new concepts. Schmitt reminds us that the intervening

parties in the "humanitarian wars" of the 20th and 21st centuries consider themselves to

be defenders of a "just cause" and, therefore, in a Manichean way, they see in the

adversary a representative of evil, an existential inimicus that must be destroyed. “The

attempt to see international military intervention as a police action is [...] linked to a

fundamental remoralization of war and the emergence of a new kind of discriminatory

total war” (Dean, 2007: 254).

The attempt to impose on states the renunciation of war (as intended by the SDN and

the UN) has put an end to the concept of war in form (regulated by Law) and has given

rise to a reality where conflict is unregulated and tends to be more dangerous and lethal.

The "just war" becomes a war against "unjust" causes, inhuman, evil and that must

therefore be eliminated

In "The Theory of the Partisan" (1963), he analyzes some characteristics of this new form

of warfare, namely the figure of the partisan, who contests the state monopoly of

legitimate violence and constitutes himself as an irregular combatant (but endowed with

a telluric character, which differentiates him from the international terrorist)

. This

characterization of the partisan, endowed with a political nature and struggling,

irregularly and asymmetrically, is especially important

, for a territory, which

distinguishes him from the revolutionary and the terrorist, both of them deterritorialized,

having the world as a field of action and not accepting the existence of limits to violence.

Among the partisans, we find the members of the guerrillas against Napoleon, but also

the combatants of the "liberation wars" such as Cuba or Algeria, and Schmitt also cites

the case of the OAS

and General Salan; whereas international terrorists, such as al

Qaeda or Daesh, enter the realm of absolute enmity

For a defense of the "just war" model and a critique of Schmitt, see Chris Brown, op. cit

For Schmitt (1966: 34), the partisan is identified according to "four criteria - irregularity, marked mobility,

intensity of political engagement, and telluric character”.

The "asymmetry lies in the opposition of two opponents who have totally unbalanced means and

capabilities” (Tomé, 2004: 165).

Organisation Armée Secrète.

Gary L. Ulmen, in “Partisan warfare, terrorism and the problem of a new nomos of the earth”, advocates

that, if there is a distinction between the partisan and the terrorist, a "Theory of the Terrorist".

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

178

However, Schmitt does not consider them to be mere criminals since they have a political

character and the conviction of waging a war of resistance against a more powerful

enemy. The result of their action is a crime, but a political crime (Benoist, op.cit.: 99).

The partisan often acts in proxy wars on behalf of others. Schmitt thus brings to mind

the work of Rolf Schroers (1919-1981), “Der Partisan”

and the figure of the "interested

third party", justifying here a longer quotation:

In his book on the Partisan, Rolf Schroers [...] talks about the third party stakeholder. It

is an accurate term. This interested third party is not some banal figure [...]. Rather, it

belongs essentially to the situation of the partisan and therefore also to his theory. The

powerful third party not only provides the necessary weapons and ammunition, money,

material aid and medicine, but also seeks a kind of political recognition, necessary for

the partisan who fights irregularly in order not to disqualify himself as the robber or the

pirate and not to fall into the apolitical, which is identical in this case to the criminal. In

the long run, the irregular has to legitimize itself with the regular. For this to happen,

there are only two possibilities: recognition by an existing regular force, or the

achievement of a new regularity by the force itself. It is a hard alternative.

The partisan loses its ground as it becomes motorized. At the same time, its dependence

on the technical-industrial means it needs for its struggle increases. The power of the

third party grows more and more, until it reaches planetary dimensions. It seems, then,

that all the aspects of partisanship we have considered so far are overwhelmed by the

all-powerful technical aspect (Schmitt, 1966: 105).

In this work, resulting from a meeting with Schmitt in 1955 (Müller, 2006: p/p), Rolf

Schroers "makes the partisan the last incarnation of autonomy in a world that is

increasingly regulated by bureaucracy and technology", although the author warns that

the involvement of the interested third party can instrumentalize it, thus leading to the

'moral death' of the partisan (idem). We have seen this in several conflicts in Africa and

the Middle East, and today, with proxy wars and the increasing use of Private Military

Companies.

Conclusion: Schmitt's return

Carl Schmitt made a major contribution to the theorization of international relations. His

concept of the Political identified the existential friend/enemy relationship as his criterion.

However, he is far from being an advocate of war and violence in politics. On the contrary,

Schmitt is a lover of order and, as such, he always hopes that the state of exception will

be succeeded by a return to constitutional normality. But it is important to keep in mind

that no matter how pacifist we are, we can always be unilaterally designated as enemies,

and in that case, there is no way to avoid it.

Those who accuse him of defending dictatorship because he wrote a book with that title

have certainly not read it. His model is clear and inspired by the Roman commissary

dictatorship, in which, in the event of an exception, a decision-maker is appointed with

Rolf Schroers, 1961, “Der Partisan; ein Beitrag zur politischen Anthropologie”, Cologne, Kiepenheuer &

Witsch (quoted by Schmitt in Teoria del Partisano: 105).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

179

extensive powers to restore order and, once this is achieved, he returns these powers to

return to normality.

Also fundamental is his explanation of the end of state dominance based on the Jus

Publicum Europaeum and its replacement by a new liberal-democratic international

system with the future unity of the world as its ideal. The replacement of the previous

pluriversum by a universum centered on the single superpower: the US. This ideal, which

was widely accepted after the war, seemed to have been adopted by the entire world in

the post-Cold War era. However, several powers are now beginning to question this ideal,

which they see as benefiting only the West and, in particular, the US.

Schmitt, faced with this reality, was already proposing the construction of an international

order based on the great spaces and inspired by the Monroe Doctrine. The return to a

pluriversum that generates stability in the international system. A new world order. In

fact, along these lines, something new is emerging in countries like China, Russia, India,

or Turkey, which are clamoring for a new multipolar system based on great spaces, where

the liberal matrix will no longer have universal validity

. The European construction itself

obeys to some extent this logic although, like the USA, respecting the liberal democratic

matrix.

Schmitt makes us realize that globalization, although focusing on free international trade,

does not bring an end to war. On the contrary, the ideal of the unity of the world leads

to the neutralization of the state, creating other types of divisions that can reach a degree

of enmity in which, in the absence of the European International Law, can lead to much

more violent confrontations, similar to civil war. Wars have not, in fact, disappeared, and

we have witnessed the systematic criminalization of the vanquished and the creation of

international criminal tribunals of rather dubious legitimacy.

In the field of Polemology, Schmitt also leaves us with fundamental concepts: that of

partisan, and the idea of the return to the "just war". Also important is the reference to

the third party, helping us to understand proxy wars and the new types of modern

irregular warfare, and to understand phenomena such as 9/11 and the concept of the

"Axis of Evil". We better understand the permanent state of exception in which we live,

and which is becoming eternal, with military missions assuming the characteristics of

police operations. Finally, theorizing about the new strategic spaces gives us an amazing

prospective analysis of the current race to militarize space - be it outer space or cyber

space - and to explore the deep sea.

Schmitt's contribution to the study of international relations is enormous. Whether one

agrees or disagrees with his thinking, it is no longer possible to ignore his leading role in

the theoretical production of this science.

References

Aron, Raymond (2003), Mémoires. Paris: Robert Laffont

Exemplified by the Russian case, where "the illiberal understanding of democracy is clearly articulated in

Vladislav Surkov's notion of 'Sovereign Democracy” (Lewis, 2017: 14).

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

180

Balakrishnan, Gopal (2006). L’Ennemi. Un portrait intellectual de Carl Schmitt. Paris :

Éditions Amsterdam

Benoist, Alain de (2011). L’Actualité de Carl Schmitt, blog des Amis d’Alain de Benoist,

available at https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/alaindebenoist/pdf/cs-sezession.pdf

Benoist, Alain de (2007). Carl Schmitt Actuel. Guerre «Juste», Terrorisme, État

d’Urgence, «Nomos de la Terre». Paris: Éditions Krisis

Benoist, Alain de (2007), Global terrorism and the state of permanent exception. The

significance of Carl Schmitt’s thought today. In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio,

2007, The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis

of global order. London and New York: Routledge

Brown, Chris (2007). From humanized war to humanitarian intervention. Carl Schmitt’s

critique of the Just War tradition. In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio, 2007, The

International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global

order. London and New York: Routledge

Colombo, Alessandro (2007). The ‘realist institucionalism’ of Carl Schmitt, in Louiza

Odysseos e Fabio Petito (Coord.), The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt.

Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London and New York: Routledge

Cumin, David (2005). Thalassopolitique. Carl Schmitt et la Mer. Stratist.org, available at

http://www.institut-strategie.fr/PN7_Cumin.html

Dean, Mitchell (2007). Nomos. Word and Myth. In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio,

2007, The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis

of global order. London and New York: Routledge

Demandt, Alexander (2016). Carl Schmitt’s Concept of the State and the ‘Enemy’, in

Harle, Vilho (Coord.), European Values in International Relations, Bloomsbury Publishing,

pages. 80 to 90, available at

https://books.google.pt/books?id=QknqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=konrad+l

orenz+schmitt&source=bl&ots=-

phe3lFyEg&sig=ACfU3U2tJyFBCcrTaYnsSyTdAyCYEhAKxA&hl=pt-

PT&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPk-

Hp7MvnAhUEyIUKHYUBDt0Q6AEwAHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=konrad%20lorenz%20

schmitt&f=false

Dunne, Tim, Kurki, Milja, Smith Steve (2013). International Relations Theory. Discipline

and Diversity, 3

ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Elden, Stuart (2010). Reading Schmitt geopolitically, Radical Philosophy, available at

https://www.radicalphilosophyarchive.com/issue-

files/rp161_article2_readingschmittgeopolitically_elden.pdf

Freund, Julien (2020). Le Politique ou l’art de designer l’ennemi. Paris: Éditions La

Nouvelle Librairie

Freund, Julien (1978). Vue d’Ensemble sur l’Oeuvre de Carl Schmitt. Genève: Revue

Européenne des Sciences Sociales, Tome XVI, nr. 44

Hirst, Paul (2011). El decisionismo de Carl Schmitt, in El desafío de Carl Schmitt, de

Chantal Mouffe (compiladora). Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

181

Hussain, Adeel, Bogdandy, Armin von (2018). Carl Schmitt’s International Thought and

the State, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, MPI

Research Paper Series, nr. 2018-34

Kervégan, Jean-François (2011). Carl Schmitt y la ‘unidad mundial’, in El desafío de Carl

Schmitt, de Chantal Mouffe (compiladora). Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros

Kurylo, Bohdana (2016). Russia and Carl Schmitt: the hybridity of resistance in the

globalized world. Palgrave Communications, taken from:

nature.com/articles/palcomms201696.pdf

Lewis, David (2018). Carl Schmitt in Moscow: Counter-Revolutionary Ideology and the

Putinist State, ORE Open Research Exeter. University of Exeter, taken from:

ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/32583/carl%20in%Moscow.pdf?se

quence=1

Lobo-Fernandes, Luís (2018). O Problema da Teoria em Morgenthau e Waltz.

Realismo(s), delimitações e crescimento científico em Relações Internacionais, 2018,

Relações Internacionais nº 58, available at https://doi.org/10.23906/ri2018.58a08

Luoma-aho, Mika (2007). Geopolitica and grosspolitics. From Carl Schmitt to E.H. Carr

and James Burnham. In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio, 2007, The International

Political Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London

and New York: Routledge

Maschke, Günter (1987). Carl Schmitt: «Fossoyeur de la République», «Kronjurist» ou

«dernier classique»?, in Nouvelle Ecole nr. 44, “Science Politique”

Mehring, Reinhard (2014). Carl Schmitt: A Biography, Polity Press.

Mohler, Armin (1993). La Révolution Conservatrice en Allemagne, 1918-1932. Paris:

Pardès

Mohler, Armin (1987). Schmittistes de droite, schmittistes de gauche et… schmittistes

établis, in Nouvelle Ecole nr. 44, “Science Politique”

Moncada, Luís Cabral de (1961). Da Essência e Conceito do Político, Coimbra, Boletim da

Faculdade de Direito 37

Morais, Carlos Blanco de, e Coutinho, Luís Pereira (org.), (2014). Carl Schmitt Revisitado,

Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Jurídico-Políticas, Faculdade de Direito, Universidade de

Lisboa, available at

https://www.icjp.pt/sites/default/files/publicacoes/files/icjp_ebook_carlschmittrevisitad

o.pdf

Mouffe, Chantal (2011). Carl Schmitt y la paradoja de la democracia liberal, in El Desafío

de Carl Schmitt, Buenos Aires, Prometeo Libros

Mouffe, Chantal, (2007). Carl Schmitt’s warning on the dangers of a unipolar world. in

Louiza Odysseos e Fabio Petito (Coord.), The International Political Thought of Carl

Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London and New York:

Routledge

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

182

Müller, Jan-Werner (2006). ‘An Irregularity that Cannot be Regulated’: Carl Schmitt’s

Theory of the Partisan and the ‘War on Terror’, Princeton University, taken from:

https://www.princeton.edu/~jmueller/Schmitt-WarTerror-JWMueller-March2007.pdf

Odysseos, Louiza (2007). Crossing the line? Carl Schmitt on the ‘spaceless universalism’

of cosmopolitanism and the War on Terror”, In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio, 2007,

The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of

global order. London and New York: Routledge

Odysseos, Louiza e Petito, Fabio (2007). Introduction to The International Political

Thought of Carl Schmitt. London and New York: Routledge

Pasquier, Emmanuel (2018). Carl Schmitt et la circonscription de la guerre: Le problème

de la mesure dans la doctrine des «grands espaces», revue Études internationals, 40(1),

55-72c, Érudit, taken from: id.erudit.org/uiderudit/037572ar

Petito, Fabio, (2007). Against world unity. Carl Schmitt and the Westen-centric and liberal

global order. in Louiza Odysseos e Fabio Petito (Coord.), The International Political

Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London and

New York: Routledge

Policante, Amedeo (2014). The Return of the Pirate: Post-colonial Trajectories in the

History of International Law, blog Politica Comun, available at

http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/pc.12322227.0005.005

Ripsman, Norrin M., Taliaferro, Jeffrey W., Lobell, Steven E. (2016). Neoclassical Realist

Theory of International Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Rogeiro, Nuno (2003). O Inimigo Público. Carl Schmitt, bin Laden e o Terrorismo Pós-

Moderno. Lisboa: Gradiva, 1st ed.

Sá, Alexandre Franco de (2006). O Poder pelo Poder. Ficção e Ordem no combate de Carl

Schmitt em torno do Poder, tese de dissertação de Doutoramento em Filosofia Moderna

e Contemporânea na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, available at

https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/610/2/Disserta%c3%a7%c3%a3o%20d

e%20Doutoramento_Alexandre%20Franco%20de%20S%c3%a1_O%20Poder%20p.pdf

Scalone, Antonino (2017). La teoria schmittiana del grande spazio: una prospettiva post-

staduale?, Scienza & Politica, vol. XXIV, nº 56, pp. 179-205, taken from:

https//doi.org/10.6092/issn:1825-9618/7104

Schmitt, Carl (1990). Accélérateurs involontaires ou: La problématique de l’hémisphère

occidental (1942), in Du Politique, «légalité et légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1962). Dialogos – Dialogo de los Nuevos Espacios y Dialogo sobre el Poder

(Gespräch über den Neuen Raum, 1958) y el Acceso al Poderoso (Gespräch über die

Macht und den Zugang zum Machthaber, 1954). Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Politicos

___________ (1979). El Nomos de la Tierra en el Derecho de Gentes del «Jus Publicum

Europaeum». Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales

___________ (1990). Grand espace contre universalisme (1939), in Du Politique,

«légalité et légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

183

___________ (1990). La Mer contre la Terre (1941), in Du Politique, «légalité et

légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1990). La Société des Nations et l’Europe (1928), in Du Politique, «légalité

et légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1990). Les formes de l’impérialisme en droit international (1932), in Du

Politique, «légalité et légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1990). L’Unité du monde (I) (1951), in Du Politique, «légalité et

légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1990). L’Unité du monde (II) (1951), in Du Politique, «légalité et

légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1990), Neutralité et neutralisations (1939), in Du Politique, «légalité et

légitimité» et autres essais, Paris, Pardès

___________ (2015). O Conceito do Político, Trad. de Alexandre Franco de Sá. Lisboa:

Edições 70

___________ (1990). Souveraineté de l’État et liberté des mers (1941), in Du Politique,

«légalité et légitimité» et autres essais. Paris: Pardès

___________ (1966). Teoria del Partisano – Acotación al concepto de lo político. Madrid:

Instituto de Estudios Politicos

___________ (1952). Tierra y Mar. Consideraciones sobre la Historia Universal. Madrid:

Instituto de Estudios Politicos

Teschke, Benno Gerhard (2011). Fatal attraction: a critique of Carl Schmitt’s international

political and legal theory, International Theory, 3(2), pp. 179-227, taken from:

http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/1671/

Tomé, Luís L. (2004). Novo recorte geopolítico mundial. Lisboa: Ediual

Tommissen, Pirt (1978). Contributions de Carl Schmitt a la Polémologie. Genève: Revue

Européenne des Sciences Sociales, Tome XVI, nº 44

Ulmen, Gary L. (2007). Partisan warfare, terrorism and the problem of a new nomos of

the earth. In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio (2007), The International Political

Thought of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London and

New York: Routledge

Verdú, Pablo Lucas, Volver a Schmitt? (1996) in Estudios sobre Carl Schmitt (Coord. de

Dalmacio Negro Pavón). Madrid: Colección Veitiuno, Fundación Cánovas del Castillo

Viotti, Paul R., e Kauppi, Mark V. (2011). International Relations Theory. Harlow, United

Kingdom: Longman Publishing Group

Zolo, Danilo (2007). The re-emerging notion of Empire and the influence of Carl Schmitt’s

thought, In Odysseos, Louiza, and Petito, Fabio, 2007, The International Political Thought

of Carl Schmitt. Terror, liberal war and the crisis of global order. London and New York:

Routledge

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 12, Nº. 1 (May-October 2021), pp. 170-184

Carl Schmitt and International Relations – actuality and theoretical position

Bernardo Calheiros

184

Television shows

“Une évocation de Carl Schmitt”, programa Les idées à l’endroit nº 25, da TV Libertés,

com Alain de Benoist, Aristide Leucate e Alexandre Franco de Sá, available at

https://www.alaindebenoist.com/2017/07/13/les-idees-a-lendroit-une-evocation-de-

carl-schmitt/