Carl Schmitt Biography

Carl Schmitt was a German legal theorist whose influential works emerged during the Weimar Republic. His theories on sovereignty, the crisis of parliamentary democracy, and politics rooted in the friend-enemy distinction shaped his thought. While Schmitt aimed to defend the Weimar Constitution, his writings at times signaled a shift toward a more authoritarian political framework. His later scholarship turned to international law, critiquing liberal cosmopolitanism and culminating in his foundational work on the international legal order.