The Concept of the Political

“Arguably Schmitt’s most influential work . . . recognized as one of the most important tracts of modern political thought.” —Samuel Earle, The New Statesman In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism’s basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the state—a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George Schwab’s introduction to his translation of the 1932 German