This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Greenberg, U. E. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Criminalization: Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin’s concept of criminal politics

The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, ehud.greenberg{at}mail.huji.ac.il

The two most celebrated intellectuals of the Weimar period — Carl Schmitt on the right and Walter Benjamin on the left — were fascinated by the role of crime in modern politics. In order to shed light on this neglected element of their work, this article explains how crime became a central category in their political theory and a crucial component in their narratives of modern history. Furthermore, it elucidates how both men simultaneously came to characterize their society as a whole, and not only fractions of it, as criminal in essence. Though many have seen the connection between Schmitt and Benjamin as a continuous dialogue, this study contends that the similarity between their theories of criminal politics should be interpreted not as a direct discussion, but within the context of wide debates regarding the origins of crime as well as the blending of criminal and political discourses that occurred during the Weimar period.

Key Words: Walter Benjamin • criminality • Carl Schmitt • Weimar political theory

Journal of European Studies, Vol. 39, No. 3, 305-319 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0047244109106684


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?