Carl Schmitt defined the concept of the political in The Concept of the Political, arguing that it is independent of ethics, economics, and aesthetics. He bases the definition of the concept of political on the distinction between friend and enemy and touches upon liberalism’s relationship with economy, law, and ethics. Moreover, Schmitt criticizes liberal democracy for transforming the government.
This article aims to articulate Schmitt’s understanding of the political; to reveal the relationship between liberalism, economics, ethics, and law; to articulate how this relationship transforms the government; and to express the role of this relationship in Schmitt’s understanding of liberalism.
According to Schmitt (2007), determining the concept of the political is possible by determining unique political categories (p. 26). Therefore, it needs to be defined with certain distinctions. In other words, the concept of the political is based on the distinction between friend and enemy. This distinction is independent of other categories such as aesthetics, morality, and economy. The aesthetics is based on the distinction between beautiful and ugly. The morality is based on the distinction between good and evil, and the economics is based on the distinction between profitable and unprofitable. Thus, the political enemy can be morally good and aesthetically beautiful.
Schmitt (2007), defines the enemy as an existential threat. There are four terms about the friend-enemy distinction: polemos, stasis, hostis, and inimicus (pp.28-29). Polemos means war but does not signify only physical war. It also implies the relationship between an ontological order and a conflict situation. It reflects the struggle that brings order into existence. For instance, in the philosophy of polemos Heraclitus contrasts play a role, such as the order in which night and day form an entire day. Stasis expresses civil war, which occurs within a city-state. Hostis implies a public enemy or an external enemy. It is not an individual enemy. The last term, inimicus, expresses the hostility of an individual towards another individual, that is, it is an enmity between individuals.
Among these four terms, the enemy is hostis because ‘enemy’ designates the hostility between one community and another. Therefore, the enemy is the other. According to Schmitt (2007), a state of hostility between individuals is inimicus, and does not represent political hostility (pp. 28-29).
In addition to these four terms, a definition of liberalism is also given. Liberalism claims that the liberation of the individual is the reason for political organization (Schmitt, 2007, pp. 69-70).
According to Schmitt (2007), this distinction between friend and enemy determines the government’s decision-making process (p. 26). The sovereign must define existential threats which means that the sovereign is guided by the need to determine who belongs to the friends, and it must identify who possesses a threat to its existence. However, liberalism does not emphasize the distinction between friend and enemy because it believes that some problems can be solved by rational discussion among individuals. Since liberalism is not tied to the political, and remains committed to ethics and economics, it has moved away from the political. This situation is defined as neutralization. In other words, the non-political pacifies the concept of the political by aiming for neutrality with the claim made by Schmitt. This pacification restricts the government’s roles and leads to depoliticization.
The relations of liberalism are basically between law, ethics, and economics (Schmitt, 2007, pp. 69-70). It aims to establish a stable society through market exchanges, individual rights, and based on moral norms. This situation causes ethics, law, and economics to become independent from the government, bringing the government to a neutral position. Thus, it weakens political unity and, since it aims to restrict authority, it inhibits the decision-making process and functionality of authority in critical situations.
Liberalism envisions an order in which individuals can realize themselves freely, with the most limited intervention of the government. The economy on which liberalism is based offers a safe environment where there is only competition. The spontaneous order that the liberal economy offers aims to restrict the authority of the sovereign because, in this system, individuals make their own economic decisions, can acquire property, and leave an inheritance to whomever they want. In short, the liberal economic system restricts the authority of the sovereign by offering individuals the opportunity to make their own economic decisions. In this way, it also transforms the government.
Schmitt rejects this relationship between liberalism and economics (The Concept of the Political, pp. 71). According to him (2007), this relationship depoliticizes the government and hinders the government and the sovereign in making decisions in possible crises (pp. 69-70).
As restricting sovereign rights will eliminate the unifying power of the government over individuals, the social structure will gradually weaken and this liberal understanding will bring individualism to the fore. The government will move away from the political and become an instrument of a liberal economy, and the government’s claim to sovereignty will gradually weaken and may disappear (Belamy and Baehr, 1993).
Liberalism believes that the invisible hand that refers to the self-regulating nature of the free market can bring solutions to crises. Schmitt does not see this situation as acceptable and argues that government intervention is necessary. Since the liberal economy cannot foresee the economic inequality that a possible crisis will create, government intervention is essential here. As a result, the liberal economy is shaped in a way that restricts the government’s rights over individuals, but according to Schmitt, it cannot foresee the crises it may establish and the government’s intervention is required here.
Schmitt also criticizes and objects to liberalism’s reduction of morality to an individualist level (p.70). Liberalism emphasizes and supports the freedom of the individual. This ethical understanding is based on restricting the power of the government and finds the authority of the sovereign and government over the individual and interference in individuals’s decisions morally wrong because ethical understanding, based on liberalism, stems from his belief in self-autonomy and individual rights, and he values individual freedom rather than collective authority.
According to Schmitt (2007), political unity cannot be established without a common ethical basis, and individualist morality is reduced to a mediator tasked with calming conflict between individuals, i.e., inimicus (pp. 70). Individualism is not a common-based ethic because it is based on competition and self-interest, which leads to the weakening of collective unity. However, what Schmitt means is hostis, that is, hostility between communities, and in this case, the dominant hostis becomes the means of resolving the hostility. Therefore, the ethical stance of liberals weakens the political, and preventing individuals from coming together weakens the government and the ruler. As a result, this relationship between liberalism and ethics leads to the depoliticization of the government.
Schmitt also reveals the relationship of liberalism with law. Liberalism has neutralized law by basing it on universal norms. The law of liberalism is politically neutral. However, according to Schmitt (2007, The Concept of the Political), since the law is a product of the political concept because it assists in distinguishing between friend and enemy in times of conflict, it is never politically neutral (p. 70). Liberals see law as a tool that can be used for individual rights. This view, which can produce solutions to problems through universal norms, causes the concept of politics to be ignored because liberalism prioritizes ethics and economics. They neutralize the politics that friend-enemy distinction. Instead of solving political deadlocks, liberal law deepens them by using abstract norms.
Liberalism aims to limit the roles of the government and the sovereign. Liberals define the role of the government as a structure that only controls the market economically and cannot directly intervene in the law. Here, the government is not a direct decision-making mechanism. While Schmitt addresses the concept of the political from the point of distinction between friend and enemy, liberals oscillate between economics and ethics. This oscillation leads to the individualization of society, and this attitude causes the government to become depoliticized and neutral, moving away from the political. However, the depoliticized government is incapable of making decisions at critical moments because liberals have already restricted the powers of the sovereign.
Schmitt opposes the liberal political understanding that limits the sovereign’s powers and is stuck between economics and ethics. This attitude cannot meet the political needs of society. It neutralizes the government and the political. In doing so, it encourages society to individualism and makes it difficult for the government to fulfill its roles in times of crisis (hostis). Thus, liberal governments cannot defend themselves in critical moments.
To sum up, while defining the concept of the political, Schmitt states what the distinction between friend and enemy is. In addition, the relationship between liberalism, economy, law, and morality is examined and it is emphasized how this relationship transforms the government. As a result, liberalism has transformed the roles of the government through its relationships with the economy, law, and ethics. Moreover, liberalism has depoliticized and neutralized the government.
References
Schmitt, C. (2007). The Concept of the Political. The University of Chicago Press.
Bellamy, R. , Baehr, P. (1993). Carl Schmitt and the Contradictions of Liberal Democracy. European Journal of Political Research, 23(2), 163-185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.1993.tb00354.x