The State of the Political: Conceptions of Politics and the State in the Thought of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann by Duncan Kelly (review)

Abstract

[MWS 7.2 (2008) 243-278] ISSN 1470-8078 Book Reviews Duncan Kelly, The Stak of the Political: Conceptions of Politics and the Stak in the Thought of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann (Oxford: The British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. ix + 368. ISBN 0-19-726287-2. £45.00 (hbk). The State of the Political by Duncan Kelly, published in 2003, is to be commended for its review of the theory of the state in Germany, a research tradition particu larly vibrant around the turn of the twentieth century until the end of the Weimar Republic. This field of reflection, which is far from consensus-driven, constitutes a real source of both controversy and conflict. To give an overview, Duncan Kelly chose three legal experts—Max Weber (1864-1920), Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) and Franz Neumann (1900-1954)—who were not neglected by critics during the twen tieth century and often contrasted with each other in an almost caricature-like manner. The other main reason why these authors sparked people's interest is that they were all 'public moralists' whose influence went far beyond legal or intellec tual circles. After the Second World War, German historians endeavoured to differ entiate between 'friends and enemies' within the progression of ideas, particularly by attributing simple labels to these authors, like 'conservative' (Schmitt), 'liberal' (Weber) and 'social-democrat' (Neumann). These easy and perhaps hasty distinc tions may have neglected some subtle, yet important nuances. Without diminishing their differences, it is true that a closer look at the works of these doctrines allows the reader to isolate common ground and differences between these authors. One of the common battles all authors waged was against legal positivism, Hans Kelsen being the best twentieth-century example. This rejection of positivism is especially visible in the writings of Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann, however, it is also present in other authors of the between-war period, whose names are mentioned in The State of the Political, for instance, Hermann Heller and Rudolf Smend. Duncan Kelly takes a sensible approach by outlining common issues in the works of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann, thus establishing similar ities across authors. All three repeatedly return to the subject of the figure of the political leader. In line with Wolfgang Mommsen's suggestion, Duncan Kelly under lines Max Weber's legacy in Carl Schmitt's definition of the role and attributes of the president of the Reich. Weber's thoughts on the president's function, clearly out lined in his article 'Der Reichspräsident' published in 1919, underlines the need for an Archimedean point, an institutional leverage point in Weimar, incarnated by the President of the Reich. Schmitt's concessions towards national-socialism, as well as towards antisemitism may shed doubt on this parallel, given that some critics prefer to distinguish clearly between these two great authors, one, the defender of liberal ism and the other, its opponent. Another merit of Duncan Kelly's work is his objec tive analysis of the corpus of these authors' doctrines, whose work left its mark on© Max Weber Studies 2008, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 244 Max Weber Studies the twentieth century. In this way, Kelly successfully resists the temptation to allow the subject to be hijacked by the tragedy of the Weimar Republic. Despite their opposing stances, in particular over the relationship between the State and society, these three authors do share the same vision of the State as the supreme and ultimate embodiment of politics and sovereignty. Duncan Kelly's choice of authors is very representative of early-century legal writers in Germany. Following the end of the Empire, the concept of the State, albeit weakened by the reality at the time, remained the nerve centre of politics. This may well be the expla nation for such a strong tradition of research into the theory of the state in Germany. One of the main figures in this line of research was Georg Jellinek who became a ref erence for many other authors in that field. Max Weber was one of these authors and Hans Kelsen was...