Schmitt Constitutional Theory

1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8223-9058-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 488 Seiten

Reihe: e-Duke books scholarly collection

Carl Schmitt’s magnum opus, written during the Weimar regime, wherein Schmitt challenges the theories and practices of Western constitutional government, claiming that classical conceptions of democracy cannot be transposed onto modern political lif

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schmitt, Carl

Weitere Mitwirkende

Thornhill, Christopher

Seitzer, Jeffrey

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Staats- und Verfassungsrecht
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword / Ellen Kennedy xv

Translator's Preface xvii

An Introduction to Carl Schmitt's Constitutional Theory: Issues and Context / Jeffrey Seitzer and Christopher Thornhill 1

Constitutional Theory

Schmitt's Preface 53

Part I. Concept of the Constitution 57

1. Absolute Concept of the Constitution (The Constitution as United Whole) 59

2. Relative Concept of the Constitution (The Constitution as a Multitude of Individual Laws) 67

3. The Positive Concept of the Constitution (The Constitution as the Complete Decision over the Type and Form of the Political Unity) 75

4. Ideal Concept of the Constitution ("Constitution" in an exemplary sense, thus named because of a certain content) 89

5. The Meanings of the Term "Basic Law," Basic Norm or Lex Fundamentalis *(Summarizing Overview) 94

6. Origin of the Constitution 97

7. The Constitution as Contract (the Genuine Constitutional Contract) 112

8. The Constitution-Making Power 125

9. Legitimacy of a Constitution 136

10. Consequences of the Theory of the Constitution-Making Power of the People's Constitution-Making Power in Particular 140

11. Concepts Derived from the Concept of the Constitution (Constitutional Change, Statutory Violation of the Constitution, Constitutional Suspension, Constitutional Dispute, High Treason) 147

Part II. The Rechtsstaat Component of the Modern Constitution 167

12. The Principles of the Bourgeois Rechtsstaat 169

13. The Rechtsstaat Concept of Law 181

14. The Basic Rights 197

15. Separation (So-Called Division) of Powers 220

16. Bourgeois Rechtsstaat and Political Form 235

Part III. The Political Component of the Modern Constitution 253

17-1. The Theory of Democracy, Fundamental concepts 255

18. The People and the Democratic Constitution 268

19. Consequences of the Political Principle of Democracy 280

20. Application of the Political Principle of Democracy to Individual Areas of State Life 286

21. Boundaries of Democracy 302

22-2. The Theory of Monarchy 308

23-3. Aristocratic Elements in Modern Bourgeois Rechtsstaat Constitutions 318

24-4. The Parliamentary System 328

25. Historical Overview of the Development of the Parliamentary System 343

26. Overview of the Possibilities for the Formation of the Parliamentary System 359

27. The Parliamentary System of the Weimar Constitution 362

28. Dissolution of Parliament 373

Part IV. Constitutional Theory of the Federation 379

29. Fundamental Concepts of a constitutional Theory of the Federation 381

30. Consequences of the Fundamental Concepts of the Constitutional Theory of the Federation 396

Appendix: The Weimar Constitution 409

Notes 441

Biographical Notes 464

Index 465

Über Autor(innen)

Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) was a leading German political and legal theorist. Among his many books are The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, Political Romanticism, The Concept of the Political, Political Theology, and Legality and Legitimacy, which is also published by Duke University Press.Jeffrey Seitzer teaches at Roosevelt University. He is the author of Comparative History and Legal Theory: Carl Schmitt in the First German Democracy and the editor and translator of Carl Schmitt’s Legality and Legitimacy.Ellen Kennedy is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Constitutional Failure: Carl Schmitt in Weimar, also published by Duke University Press.Christopher Thornhill is Professor of Politics at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of German Political Philosophy: The Metaphysics of Law.