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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<strong>The</strong> re-emerging notion <strong>of</strong> Empire 161<br />
‘global empire’ that, in my view, may be used today to describe the political<br />
system <strong>of</strong> the United States (Zolo 2003: 223–240).<br />
First, today the United States’ power can be said to be ‘imperial’ and ‘global’<br />
in a geopolitical sense, for it is a power that, through its absolute military hegemony,<br />
tends to operate economically and militarily in a non-spatial dimension.<br />
State power has always been anchored to a territorial domain, as have inter-state<br />
wars. On the contrary, the ‘global wars’ waged by the United States are not wars<br />
between sovereign states. <strong>The</strong>ir guiding strategy is directed towards universal<br />
goals such as ‘global security’ and a ‘new world order’. <strong>The</strong> conquest <strong>of</strong> territorial<br />
spaces for continuous occupation and annexation in one way or another is<br />
alien to the ‘informal’ strategies <strong>of</strong> the United States empire. Imperial war tends<br />
to be waged as ‘air war’, and, in a rapidly approaching future, also as an extraterrestrial<br />
space war.<br />
Second, the United States’ power can be said to be ‘imperial’ and ‘global’ in<br />
a systemic sense, that is, in the meaning <strong>of</strong> general systems theory. <strong>The</strong> foreign<br />
policy <strong>of</strong> the United States is engaged in a permanent contest to decide who will<br />
be leader <strong>of</strong> the world system <strong>of</strong> international relations, who will dictate the systemic<br />
rules, who will have the political power to determine the allocation <strong>of</strong><br />
resources <strong>of</strong> wealth and power, and who will succeed in imposing his own world<br />
view and concept <strong>of</strong> order. In the most authoritative documents <strong>of</strong> its administration<br />
the United States declares itself to be the only country that, in its capacity<br />
as a ‘global power’, can ‘project power’ worldwide. 5 To meet the global interests,<br />
responsibilities and duties it ascribes to itself, it must extend its influence,<br />
reinforcing ‘America’s global leadership role’, with the dual goal <strong>of</strong> enhancing<br />
its own internal security and promoting its ‘vital interests’ in the international<br />
arena by reinforcing its worldwide system <strong>of</strong> military bases, its satellite espionage<br />
network and, last but not least, its tactical and strategic nuclear weaponry.<br />
Third, the power <strong>of</strong> the United States can be said to be ‘imperial’ and ‘global’<br />
in a strictly normative sense, for it has a tendency to ignore the rules <strong>of</strong> international<br />
law. <strong>The</strong> United States considers itself subject neither to the prohibition<br />
on the ‘private’ use <strong>of</strong> force (jus ad bellum) enshrined in the Charter <strong>of</strong> the<br />
United Nations nor to the laws <strong>of</strong> war (jus in bello) developed by the modern<br />
international legal system. <strong>The</strong> formal distinction between combatants and noncombatants<br />
allows room for the use <strong>of</strong> weapons <strong>of</strong> mass destruction that essentially<br />
affect civilian populations. And prisoners <strong>of</strong> war are treated without the<br />
slightest respect for the Geneva Conventions. US wars are decided by an authority<br />
that not only sees itself as legibus soluta but, to use <strong>Schmitt</strong>’s lexicon, operates<br />
as the sovereign source <strong>of</strong> a new nomos <strong>of</strong> the earth in a situation – the<br />
threat <strong>of</strong> global terrorism – <strong>of</strong> permanent ‘global exception’. <strong>The</strong> notion (and<br />
practice) <strong>of</strong> ‘pre-emptive war’ is the most eloquent expression <strong>of</strong> this will to<br />
subvert the existing international order, still based upon states’ sovereignty.<br />
Finally, the United States can be considered to be a ‘global empire’ in an<br />
ideological sense, because it constantly appeals to universal values to justify its<br />
use <strong>of</strong> force. It justifies war on the basis not <strong>of</strong> partisan interests or particular<br />
goals but <strong>of</strong> a superior, impartial standpoint and <strong>of</strong> values which it believes are,