Carl Schmitt

Carl Schmitt (11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist and political theorist who wrote about the effective wielding of political power. He was an authoritarian conservative theorist, noted as a reactionary critic of parliamentary democracy, liberalism, and cosmopolitanism in works of political theory, legal theory, Continental philosophy, and political theology, which were controversial because Schmitt gave much intellectual support to Nazism.

In 1933, Schmitt joined the Nazi Party and used his legal and political theories to provide ideological justification for the regime. He held various positions on Nazi councils, including the Prussian State Council and the Academy for German Law, and served as president of the National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals. By 1936, he had lost favour among senior Nazi officials and was removed from his official positions within the party.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy writes, "Schmitt was an acute observer and analyst of the weaknesses of liberal constitutionalism and liberal cosmopolitanism. But there can be little doubt that his preferred cure turned out to be infinitely worse than the disease." His ideas remain highly influential, with many scholars arguing he has influenced modern governance in China and Russia, as well as the movements of neoconservatism and Trumpism.