/lit/ - Literature

I will present an explanation of "decisionism" and "state of exception" in Schmitt's work if you are interested

Decisionism is a position which maintains that legal authority depends on "who decides", rather than upon the written law itself. This is not normative doctrine, it is descriptive. For the decisionist, the law does not, of itself, hold any power, and is never the question; the question is always "who decides". Decisionists are often very cynical about "rule of law", because they see it as a loaded phrase. Carl Schmitt observes,

>First, law can signify here the existing positive laws and lawgiving methods which should continue to be valid. In this case the rule of law means nothing else than the legitimization of a specific status quo, the preservation of which interests particularly those whose political power or economic advantage would stabilize itself in this law. Second, appealing to law can signify that a higher orbetter law, a so-called natural law or law of reason, is set against the law of the status quo. In this case it is clear to a politician that the rule or sovereignty of this type of law signifies the rule and sovereignty of men or groups who can appeal to this higher law and thereby decide its content and how and by whom it should be applied.

Cont

Conservative reading chart: http://oi63.tinypic.com/14kdv0i.jpg