Carl Schmitt on land and sea

Carl Schmitt (1888-1985), one of the leading conservative legal thinkers of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, is best known today for his critique of liberalism. Between the late 1930s and mid-1950s, Schmitt wrote numerous articles and two books addressing the mythical and geopolitical significance of land and sea. In recent years, these texts have begun to attract attention from historians as well as theorists. This article reconstructs the origins of Schmitt's theories about land and sea, and shows how they developed in the context of his efforts to delegitimize the British Empire and justify the persecution of Jews. It also explains how Schmitt selectively misread the history of maritime law in order to critique the ‘freedom of the seas.’ Finally, it reveals that the meaning Schmitt ascribed to ‘the opposition of the elements of land and sea’ changed dramatically to suit his political needs. For all their evocative qualities and insights, Schmitt's texts on land and sea do not constitute a coherent theory, but rather a shifting field of polemical positions in search of theoretical support.     

Post-Enlightenment sources of political authority: Biblical atheism, political theology and the Schmitt-Strauss exchange

This essay reevaluates the Weimar writings of Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss, specifically, their intellectual efforts to replace the political authority of Kantian liberalism with, respectively, a ‘political theology’ and ‘Biblical atheism’ derived from the thought of early-modern state theorists like Hobbes and Spinoza. Schmitt and Strauss each insisted that post-Kantian Enlightenment rationality was unraveling into a way of thinking that violently rejected ‘form’ of any kind, fixated myopically on material things and lacked any conception of the external constraints that invariably condition the possibilities of philosophy, morality and politics. They considered Kantian reason and liberal politics to pose serious threats to ‘genuine’ expressions of rationality and as dangerous obfuscations of the necessity of political order—of the brute fact that human beings stand in need of ‘being ruled,’ as such.     

Orthodox violence: “Critique of Violence” and Walter Benjamin's Jewish political theology

This paper deals with the role of Judaism in Walter Benjamin's famous 1921 essay on violence and law, Zur Kritik der Gewalt. Despite the intense attention devoted to this essay, the role of Jewish myth in it has not yet been thoroughly explained. This study contends that the association between what Benjamin termed revolutionary violence and the Jewish messianic tradition, which plays a central role in the evaluation of Benjamin's text, is far more problematic than has hitherto been assumed, and poses a serious challenge, which has not been fully examined in its historical context. Second, this essay claims that the subversive elements that many have supposedly found in Benjamin's text and the attempts to link these elements to messianic traditions are also unconvincing. Third, the paper contextualizes Benjamin's thought within the framework of the Jewish political–theological debate of the period. It contends that Benjamin's theory of law and justice should be understood not as a revolutionary, anti-republican text, as has been generally accepted, but as a secularized conservative orthodox one. In doing so, it seeks to shed light not only on Benjamin's early thinking and its influences, but also on the neglected element of Jewish orthodoxy within the broader topic of political theology.     

‘Iustitiam non includo’: Carl Schmitt, Hugo Grotius and the Ius Publicum Europaeum

Through a discussion of Hugo Grotius’ conception of just war, this essay shows that within his critique of liberalism, Schmitt clashed with the very intellectual tradition he claimed to represent. Both historically and philosophically Schmitt's concept of the Ius Publicum Europaeum was a mirage. Indeed, his concept of the political was a rejection of the moral and civil philosophy that sees politics as the world of active citizens and commonwealths arguing with each other about fundamental questions of justice and equity.     

“Living together separately”: Thoughts on the relationship between political science and political geography

In their provocatively titled book, Living Together Separately, Michael Romann and Alex Weingrod argue that the shared terrain of Jerusalem obscures deep divisions in the physical and social lives of its Arab and Jewish ethnic communities (Romann & Weingrod, 1991). Multiple divisions exist not only among peoples sharing a common space; they are also found among communities of scholars sharing common intellectual interests. This has certainly been the case of Political Science and Political Geography during much of the twentieth century. Members of both disciplinary communities seek insights into the role of politics and political structures in human society, yet until recently they have pursued their work within orbits that only rarely intersected. They attended different conferences and symposia, they employed different methodological tools, and they did not draw heavily on each others published work.Recent theoretical and empirical developments have begun to erode the barriers separating Political Science and Political Geography, and a discussion of the relationship between the disciplines is thus both timely and welcome. Professor Elazar is an appropriate person to place at the center of this discussion, for his work as a political scientist is unusual sensitivity to geography. Professor Elazar's comments about research orientations and career constraints provide an interesting point of departure for such a discussion, but to understand the nature and depth of the divide between the disciplines it is important to consider the core intellectual constructs and practices that have characterized Political Science and Political Geography during the twentieth century. These have fostered theoretical orientations and research approaches that are sufficiently different from one another to create significant barriers to interdisciplinary contact.     

秦楚丹阳大战与淅川吉岗楚墓

本文根据文献记载,记述了战国中晚期之际秦楚丹阳大战的情况,论证了丹阳的地望在丹淅会合处,进而认为,丹江口水库东岸的吉岗楚墓就是秦楚丹阳大战时楚国阵亡军士的墓地。     

Post-electoral politics in Italy: institutional problems and political perspectives

A dysfunctional electoral law and an obsolete bicameral Parliament contributed to the surprising results of the 24–25 February 2013 Italian elections, which have solved none of Italy's institutional and political problems. This article briefly analyses the distribution of votes, stressing especially that the success of the Five Stars Movement derives from the dissatisfaction and the protest of a significant sector of the electorate. Beppe Grillo, like Silvio Berlusconi, is a political entrepreneur, who through patience, hard work and commitment has constructed an organization with a wide geographical following. The presence in Parliament of the Five Stars Movement made the election of the President of the Republic very difficult. President Napolitano was obliged to accept an unprecedented second term and then led the Democratic Party, the People of Freedom and Civic Choice to form an unusual government, almost a sort of Grand Coalition. The government is here briefly assessed. The article ends underlining two critical aspects of the situation. Neither the Italian parties nor the party system have succeeded in reaching a satisfactory level of consolidation and stability. This means that the President of the Republic has been obliged to make good the shortcomings of the political parties. Even malgré soi, the President's behaviour has given rise to a situation in which his own position raises the urgent need for institutional reforms along the lines of the semi-presidential mould of the French Fifth Republic to bring to a close Italy's overlong political transition.     

秦汉时期的和奸罪——以简牍资料为中心的考察

秦汉时期,法律对和奸的论罪区分为亲属与非亲属两类,处罚轻重差别较大。和奸罪的审理程序包括：以“诣告”的形式对犯奸者提起诉讼;受理机关以县廷为主,疑难案例依次向郡国守相及廷尉府疑谳,王侯的和奸罪则交由中央受理;和奸罪的认定必须满足“必案之校上”的条件。对和奸罪的有关规定和处理从维护家族联姻关系、维护家长权力及保证家族“财不出户”等3个方面维护家族秩序和社会等级名份。     

香港回归的历史"前奏曲"——1979年3月邓小平与麦理浩的"北京会谈"述略

1979年3月香港总督麦理浩的北京之行,代表英国方面以香港"土地契约"问题为"突破口"逼中国方面对过"九七"的"英国管治"作出让步,第一次将中英两国政府"长期搁置"的香港"九七"前途问题明朗化.而邓小平"叫香港的投资者放心"的正面回应,初步揭示了中国共产党和中国政府关于"九七"以后"香港还可以搞它的资本主义"的战略思考.以此为契机,中国共产党和中国政府开始初步调整当代中国"国家统一"的战略重心,将以"一国两制"的"新思维"解决香港问题的"时间表"提前,探索将"台湾版"的"一国两制"香港化".     

中美洛案赔偿交涉考

1885年洛士丙冷虐杀华工案发生后,中方一直坚持惩凶、赔偿和保护三个处理原则,其后又根据事态发展,将交涉重点集中到了赔款上。在赔偿交涉中,清政府始终坚持在国际公法下以外交手段解决中外纠纷的原则,驻美两公使苦心竭虑,不避繁难,有礼有节,不懈努力,终于获得美方14万元美金的赔偿,并藉此清理了其它虐杀华工的旧案,这是中国近代中外交涉中第一起通过外交努力获得外国赔偿的案例。但是,洛案的赔偿没有形成对受害华工损失的制度化赔偿,没有从国际法和国内法的角度形成对华工更好的保护,没有从根本上改变美国排华的社会舆论与社会意识,排华运动最终成为中美关系上一段极不愉快的记忆。     

发展繁荣社会主义文化的成功之路--"双百"方针、"二为"方向述论

从毛泽东到邓小平,从1956年提出"百花齐放,百家争鸣"的方针到1980年提出"文艺为人民服务,为社会主义服务"的方向,他们把马克思主义与中国革命和建设的实践相结合,制定了一套完整的社会主义文艺的总方针、总政策.在贯彻实施过程中,又根据实际情况提出"古为今用,洋为中用"等具体方针、政策、要求、办法,为中国探索出了一条发展繁荣社会主义文化的成功之路.     

近代旅日闽侨与侨乡联系探究(1840-1945)

在不同的历史时段和不同的区域,华侨与侨乡之间存在着不同的联系状况。基于普通华侨社会生活史的角度,考察了近代旅日闽侨与侨乡的多元联系及其演变形态,认为这些来自社会底层的普通华侨,与侨乡社会保持了不可分割的历史联系,逐渐成为侨乡社会发展的推动力,拓展了侨乡社会的外部发展空间,倡导今后运用历史社会学的田野调查方法,探寻其联系的不同方式及其影响,以期拓展日本华侨史研究的学术视野,深化对侨乡社会文化变迁的认识。     

“刘言史法，吾言史意”——章学诚与刘知几史学歧异探析

“史法”与“史意”是章学诚的重要学术术语,是研究章学诚与刘知几史学异同关系的关键,也是把握章学诚史学思想的关键。本从章学诚所界定之“史学”涵义入手,认为“史意”是针对一家述而言,“史法”是针对馆局纂修而言,“史法”与“史意”能够体现出章学诚与刘知几的分歧所在。     

晚清保甲制的历史演变与乡村权力结构——国家与社会在乡村社会控制中的关系变化

保甲制是清王朝实施乡村社会控制的主要制度 ,但在乡土社会权力制约下 ,国家政权向乡村社会的延伸屡受挫抑。围绕着乡村权力格局 ,国家与社会之间的复杂关系及其权力力量变动 ,不仅构成了“政治近代化”过程中乡村权力结构的历史前提 ,而且也是我们认识近代中国社会的一个新视角