The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt: Terror, Liberal ...
The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt: Terror, Liberal ...
The International Political Thought of Carl Schmitt: Terror, Liberal ...
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5 Partisan warfare, terrorism and<br />
the problem <strong>of</strong> a new nomos <strong>of</strong> the<br />
earth 1<br />
Gary L. Ulmen<br />
No new nomos <strong>of</strong> the earth can obtain without common agreement on the laws<br />
<strong>of</strong> war. <strong>Carl</strong> <strong>Schmitt</strong> understood this very well, which is why the concluding<br />
section <strong>of</strong> his book, <strong>The</strong> Nomos <strong>of</strong> the Earth, contains a chapter on ‘Transformation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the meaning <strong>of</strong> war’ and ends with a chapter on ‘War with modern<br />
means <strong>of</strong> destruction’. It is thus quite consistent that <strong>Schmitt</strong> concluded his treatise,<br />
‘<strong>The</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> the Partisan’, with the statement: ‘<strong>The</strong> theory <strong>of</strong> the partisan<br />
flows into the question <strong>of</strong> the concept <strong>of</strong> the political, into the question <strong>of</strong> the<br />
real enemy and <strong>of</strong> a new nomos <strong>of</strong> the earth’ (<strong>Schmitt</strong> 1963b: own translation;<br />
see also 2004a: 78, 2004b: 68). 2 <strong>The</strong>se two works should be considered together,<br />
and in light <strong>of</strong> Der Begriff des Politischen (1963a), not only given the political<br />
situation today, but also and more importantly because <strong>Schmitt</strong>’s national and<br />
international political thinking belong together. His mature political thinking<br />
was always geopolitical.<br />
As <strong>Schmitt</strong> notes, his theory <strong>of</strong> the partisan is not simply another corollary <strong>of</strong><br />
the concept <strong>of</strong> the political (on these corollaries see <strong>Schmitt</strong> 1963a: 97–124), but<br />
rather a consideration <strong>of</strong> a specific and significant phenomenon that in the<br />
second half <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century ushered in a new ‘theory <strong>of</strong> war and enmity’<br />
(<strong>Schmitt</strong> 1963b: own translation; see also 2004b: 5). By the same token, the<br />
theory <strong>of</strong> the terrorist at the end <strong>of</strong> the twentieth and beginning <strong>of</strong> the twentyfirst<br />
centuries has ushered in a new theory <strong>of</strong> war and enmity. Yet today, there is<br />
little understanding <strong>of</strong> the theory <strong>of</strong> the partisan or <strong>of</strong> the terrorist, and virtually<br />
no understanding <strong>of</strong> the transformation <strong>of</strong> war and enmity that has occurred<br />
since the collapse <strong>of</strong> the Eurocentric era <strong>of</strong> international law at the end <strong>of</strong> the<br />
nineteenth century, let alone since 11 September 2001. <strong>Schmitt</strong>’s theory <strong>of</strong> the<br />
partisan immediately raises the question <strong>of</strong> the distinction between the partisan<br />
and the terrorist that logically culminates in the theory <strong>of</strong> the terrorist, which<br />
again flows into the question <strong>of</strong> the concept <strong>of</strong> the political, into the question <strong>of</strong><br />
the absolute enemy, i.e. the foe (Ulmen 1987; Schwab 1987), and <strong>of</strong> a new<br />
nomos <strong>of</strong> the earth in the twenty-first century.<br />
Since the 1990s, fewer than ten <strong>of</strong> the more than 100 bloody conflicts that<br />
have occurred worldwide have been waged by recognized states. In fact, the<br />
majority <strong>of</strong> these conflicts have been internal challenges to these states by<br />
smaller, sub-national groups and organizations. Clearly, a new situation exists