Carl Schmitt. Die Weimarer Jahre

Carl Schmitt is still regarded by many as possibly the most brilliant expert in constitutional and international law of the 20th century and as certainly the most controversial. The dazzling author, brilliant analyst and scathing polemicist is one of most widely read German thinkers of the 20th century. In this study, Wolfgang A. Mühlhans consistently analyses Schmitt’s writings in the context of the time in which they emerged. Schmitt principally saw himself as an exponent of crisis situations. Mühlhans extends his analytical approach to include the historical and biographical surroundings in which Schmitt worked. In doing so, and by dispensing with the benefit of hindsight, he paints a fascinating picture of Schmitt as an enigmatic individual and a ‘devilishly interesting thinker’, who mercilessly deconstructed the Weimar constitution and exposed its weaknesses while always considering every minute aspect of it. As he once said, ‘It is the exception that proves everything, not the rule.’