SOVEREIGN CRITIQUE II

Abstract

This chapter talks about Carl Schmitt and his book Dictatorship, where he distinguished between the commissary and the sovereign forms of dictatorship. It focuses on the sovereign forms of dictatorship that is designed within the universe of Roman dictatorships before Sulla and Caesar. The chapter also points out dictatorship characterized by acting in an exception that is provided by the law of the republic in order to conserve and safeguard the law. The dictator is named by the senate to carry out specific tasks, such as to eliminate a dangerous situation, to make war, to repress an internal rebellion, or to celebrate a popular assembly. Sovereign dictatorship, however, exercises dictatorship by suspending the law of the republic. According to Schmitt, Caesar embodies the historical model of the sovereign dictator.