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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Notes<br />
1 This and the following four paragraphs <strong>of</strong> exposition follow those in Dean (2006).<br />
2 This section also follows Dean (2006).<br />
3 Literally, unspeakable or abominable crimes such as murder or high treason. In a legal<br />
opinion on war crimes after the Second World War, he speaks <strong>of</strong> this category <strong>of</strong><br />
crimes:<br />
<strong>The</strong> brutality and bestiality <strong>of</strong> these monstrous crimes exceed the normal human<br />
power <strong>of</strong> comprehension. <strong>The</strong>y are components and manifestations <strong>of</strong> a frightful<br />
‘scelus infandum’ in the fullest sense <strong>of</strong> this term. <strong>The</strong>y are beyond the scope <strong>of</strong> all<br />
traditional and customary measures <strong>of</strong> international and criminal law. Such crimes<br />
set the perpetrators outside the law and make them outlaws in the fullest sense. <strong>The</strong><br />
order <strong>of</strong> a superior authority cannot justify or excuse such monstrous crimes; it can<br />
at best, in a particular situation, raise the question <strong>of</strong> whether the perpetrator found<br />
himself in a critical situation and whether this distress excuses him. In no case<br />
should the abnormality <strong>of</strong> the crime be made the object <strong>of</strong> discussion, thereby<br />
deflecting the monstrousness <strong>of</strong> these transgressions and diminishing the awareness<br />
<strong>of</strong> their abnormality.<br />
(quoted in Ulmen 1996: 108)<br />
4 <strong>The</strong> painting St George and the Dragon by Vittore Carpaccio (1455–1526), dating<br />
from 1502–1508, is housed at the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice. A<br />
gallery <strong>of</strong> images <strong>of</strong> the story <strong>of</strong> St George can be found at: www.ucc.ie/ milmart/<br />
grgwstart.html (accessed 15 June 2006).<br />
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