Clausewitz, Schmitt and the Relationship Between War and Politics in the Interwar Period and Today

Abstract

Carl von Clausewitz distinguished two fundamental aspects of war — political and existential. These aspects are present in the philosophy of Carl Schmitt too. He used Clausewitz to build a theory of Man and his political nature that also aimed at understanding the German defeat in World War I. In this article, I interpret Schmitt's philosophy as an instance of a modern re-appropriation of Clausewitz's legacy. I aim to show that even though Schmitt’s philosophy might be outdated, his way of reading Clausewitz may be inspiring today. There is a need for a ‘new Schmitt’ who would be able to create a system that would integrate Clausewitz’s intuitions into a modern paradigm.