Globalizing the political: German radical conservatives on the structural transformation of the global order

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the international political theory of German radical conservatism in its transformations from Weimar nationalism to post-WW2 adoption of a global perspective. Analyzing the work of Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, and Hans Freyer – three prominent figures of the scene – I identify a paradox in their attempt to expand the nationalistic-particularistic ‘political’ to the global level. I focus on several shared themes that reflected and co-constituted the problem: the plurality of the political world, a ‘planetary’ perspective, the universalizing effects of technology and (civil) war, the philosophy of history, and the world-state. While the parallels between the three theorists are substantial, each reacted dissimilarly to the rupture of 1945. Schmitt historicized his theory of multipolarity and provided quasi-theological groundings for political particularity. In a parallel fashion, Freyer cast world history as an empirical sum of states’ political actions, causing cultural universality, yet denied the political unity of the world. Jünger, by contrast, advocated a post-historical and post-political world-state to solve global problems. The solutions testify to the impossibility of truly globalizing the ‘political’ conceived nationalistically – a dilemma arguably still plaguing contemporary discussions on globalization, multipolarity, and universalism which partly recycle the notions of German radical conservatism.