‘Catholic Nietzscheans:’ Framing Carl Schmitt’s impact in interwar Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study offers a new look at Carl Schmitt’s (1888-1985) impact in Spain by focusing on his 1929 lectures in Barcelona and Madrid that came about as part of German-Spanish cultural politics. This approach allows for deconstruction of the Francoist idea of Schmitt as a Spanish thinker. Delving into Schmitt’s first introduction in Spain, the present analysis particularly takes into account Spanish resemanticizations of Spenglerian universal-historical morphology of cultures. In so doing, it becomes clear that Schmitt’s 1939–1944 spatial turn was decisively impacted by this transnational context. At the same time, this study opens a path toward understanding hybridizations of political philosophy and constitutional thought during the Second Spanish Republic as part of a leftwing Catholic renewal.