Carl Schmitt and Hans Morgenthau: Realism and beyond

Abstract

We now know that the young Hans Morgenthau was involved in an intense ‘hidden dialogue’ with Carl Schmitt, twentieth-century Germany’s most significant right-wing authoritarian political thinker.2 In his earliest Weimar-era writings, Morgenthau responded to Schmitt’s influential reflections on the ‘concept of the political’: Morgenthau’s assertion that Schmitt plagiarized core arguments from his 1929 dissertation is fundamentally accurate. As Morgenthau noted, his dissertation was partly intended as a critical response to a 1927 essay by Schmitt in which the right-wing theorist had defined ‘the political’ as constituting a fundamentally distinct and independent sphere of activity, existing alongside alternative modes of human activity.

How love orders: an engagement with disciplinary International Relations

“…Perhaps owing to the contradictions and obfuscations in his political writings, his commitment (like Niebuhr’s) to contextual judgements or some combination of both, Morgenthau remains a bitterly contested figure. Debates ensue over whether he is, in fact, the ‘Pope of Realism’ (Hoffman, 1987) or an ‘uneasy Realist’ (Scheuermann, 2009), a vociferous defender of the ‘national interest’ (Donnelly, 2000) or a visionary of the world state (Craig, 2007). For all these contestations, one constant remains: Morgenthau was foremost a theorist of power, and his theorising of power forms the cornerstone of his contribution to disciplinary IR.…”

Is Critique Still Possible in International Relations Theory? A Critical Engagement with IR’s Vocation

“…In any case, Morgenthau seems to be the unequivocal figure when it comes to re-inscribing the sense of tragic to think international politics (Frost 2003;Lebow 2003). Of particular interest in Morgenthau's reflections is his ambivalent position concerning the role of morality in politics, and therefore, his tragic awareness about the political realm (Scheuerman 2009;Williams 2007).…”

Political realism and international relations

“…Without mentioning IR realism, she ends up defending a vision of world politics that is remarkably similar to its most hard-edged versions. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that some of the most influential classical realists, notably Morgenthau, honed their thinking in critical dialogue with Schmitt (Scheuerman, 2007(Scheuerman, , 2009Koskenniemi, 2001). For Mouffe, cosmopolitanism is a dangerous "post-political" fantasy of world order-it seeks to efface the inherent plurality, and the clash of interests and identities, that constitute a healthy agonistic politics.…”