Maitre and Schmitt:
the Draculas of political philosophy?
Jan Verplaetse – Ghent University
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821) Carl Schmitt (1888-1985)
The collapse of liberal democracy?
Max Schreck as Nosferatu
(1922)
Bella Lugosi as Dracula
(1932)
Gary Oldman as The Count
(1992)
What is liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
“liberalism”
+
POPULAR SOVEREIGNITY
“democracy”
What is liberal democracy?
DEMOCRACY
main ideas
 People have the power
 Representative democracy
 Regular elections
 Right to vote and to be elected
 Trias politicas (juridical,
executive, legislative)
 Rule of law
What is liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
“liberalism”
+
POPULAR SOVEREIGNITY
“democracy”
What is liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
Three main ideas
 Every well-ordered society should guarantee BASIC
RIGHTS (equality, liberty) for all citizens
 COMPREHENSIVE DOCTRINES should accept these
BASIC RIGHTS (overlapping consensus) if political
active
 The STATE should abstain from favoring a particular
CONCEPTION OF THE GOOD LIFE (as formulated by
comprehensive doctrines)
John Rawls (1921-2002)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
four lines of critique
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821)
Carl Schmitt (1888-1985)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
CRITIQUE 1
Liberal democracy ignores the very nature of politics
Carl Schmitt (1888-1985)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
CRITIQUE 1
Liberal democracy ignores the very nature of politics
Domain
Antithesis
Conflict
Science
True or false
Research
Economy
Profitable or not
Competitors
Ethics
Good or evil
Debating adversaries
Aesthetics
Beautiful or ugly
Taste
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Liberal democracy ignores the very nature of politics
Domain
Distinction
Conflict
Science
True or false
Research
Economy
Profitable or not
Competition
Ethics
Good or evil
Debate
Aesthetics
Beautiful or ugly
Taste
Politics
Friend or enemy
The possibility of war
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Liberal democracy ignores the very nature of politics
“It is irrelevant here whether one rejects, accepts, or perhaps finds it
an atavistic remnant of barbaric times that nations continue to group
together according to friend and enemy, or hopes that the antithesis
will one day vanish from the world (…). The concern is here is neither
with abstractions nor with normative ideals, but with inherent reality
and the real possibility of such a distinction.”
“For to the enemy concept belongs the ever present possibility of
combat (…) It does not mean competition, nor does it mean pure
intellectual controversy (…) The friend, enemy, and combat concepts
receive their real meaning precisely because they refer to the real
possibility of physical killing.”
Carl Schmitt, The concept of the political (1922)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Liberal democracy ignores the very nature of politics
Sweden, 2016 – sacrifice
The Netherlands, 2015 – combat
conflict between friend and enemy
“Geist gegen Geist, Leben gegen Leben”
Continuity of friend – enemy distinction
any domain can be affected by this antithesis
16th century
CHRISTIAN RELIGION
Protestants >< Catholics
20th century
21st century
ECONOMICS
HUMAN RIGHTS
Communists >< Capitalists
Liberals >< Non-liberals
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
 Any well-ordered society should guarantee BASIC
RIGHTS (equality, liberty) for any citizen
 COMPREHENSIVE DOCTRINES should accept these
BASIC RIGHTS (overlapping consensus) if political
active
no overlapping consensus
 The STATE should abstain from favorising a particular
CONCEPTION OF THE GOOD LIFE (as formulated by
comprehensive doctrines)
John Rawls (1921-2002)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
CRITIQUE 2
Liberal democracy cannot cope with exceptional situations
Carl Schmitt (1888-1985)
What to do in exceptional situations?
Military action
Bush
War on Terror
Hollande
Guerre contre le Terrorisme
What to do exceptional situations?
constitutional or legal actions
“La forme républicaine du Gouvernement ne peut faire l’objet d’une
proposition de révision”
Constitution of France (1884)
Hungary (2009)
Belgium (2004)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
 Any well-ordered society should guarantee BASIC RIGHTS
(equality, liberty) for any citizen
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
NON-DISCRIMINATION
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
FREEDOM OF EDUCATION
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
…
John Rawls (1921-2002)
CRITIQUE 2
Liberal democracy cannot cope with exceptional situations
Non-liberals abuse liberal rights
liberals respond with non-liberal means
Examples:
Examples:
3000 websites support IS in France
Switzerland does not accept refugees who refuse
hand-shaking
Public appraisal for terror attacks in Belgium and
France
Muslim schools fundraised by Wahhabism in the
Netherlands
France bans the wearing of a veil in schools
Loss of nationality for returned IS combattants
Belgium punishes Holocaust deniers
60% of Belgian Turks vote for Erdogans AK-party
English delinquents lose right to vote
Austria keeps out refugees if “state of emergency”
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
basic contradiction
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
“liberalism”
POPULAR SOVEREIGNITY
“democracy”
promotes inclusion
requires exclusion
human rights
citizen rights
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Critique 3
The necessity of orthodoxy
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
The necessity of orthodoxy
newcomers declaration (proposal)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
The necessity of orthodoxy
newcomers declaration (proposal)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
The necessity of orthodoxy
newcomers declaration (proposal)
“We literally ask to subscribe to our values. This document is more
than a scrap of paper. One should respect this agreement and we will
monitor this.”
Theo Francken
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
Three main ideas
 Any well-ordered society should guarantee BASIC
RIGHTS (equality, liberty) for all citizens
 COMPREHENSIVE DOCTRINES should accept these
BASIC RIGHTS (overlapping consensus) if political
active
 The STATE should abstain from favoring a particular
CONCEPTION OF THE GOOD LIFE (as formulated by
comprehensive doctrines)
John Rawls (1921-2002)
The STATE defends one comprehensive doctrine
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Critique 4
The dominant comprehensive doctrine should be based upon non-rational beliefs
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Critique 4
The dominant comprehensive doctrine should be based upon non-rational beliefs
 Although rational beliefs promise universal
agreement, they mostly bring controversy, even
relativism and skepticism. Due to our limited
knowledge and permanent fear for insecurity we
should endorse non-rational dogma’s such as
religious ones.
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Critique 4
The dominant comprehensive doctrine should be based upon non-rational beliefs
“La raison humaine réduite à ses forces individuelles est
parfaitement nulle, non seulement pour la création mais
encore pour la conservation de toute association
religieuse ou politique, parce qu’elle ne produit des
disputes. L’homme pour se conduire n’a pas de besoin
des problèmes mais des croyances. Son berceau doit
être environné de dogmes”
Maitre, Etude sur la souveraineté (1870)
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
Critique 4
The dominant comprehensive doctrine should be based upon non-rational beliefs
 Although rational beliefs promise universal
agreement, they mostly bring controversy, even
relativism and skepticism. Due to our limited
knowledge and permanent fear for insecurity we
should endorse non-rational dogma’s such as
religious ones.
 Non-rational beliefs stir emotionality and willingness
to act whereas rational beliefs only appeal to our
intellectual curiosity.
Joseph de Maitre (1753-1821)
Do the critiques of Maitre and Schmitt exceed the fiction of horror?
The collapse of liberal democracy?
Max Schreck as Nosferatu
(1922)
Bella Lugosi as Dracula
(1932)
Gary Oldman as The Count
(1992)
Previous announcements of the end of liberal democracy
What is wrong with liberal democracy?
POLITICAL LIBERALISM
“The wars of this century with their extreme violence
and increasing destructiveness, culminating in the manic
evil of the Holocaust, raise in an acute way the question
whether political relations must be governed by power
and coercion alone. If a reasonable just society is not
possible and people are largely amoral, one may ask
with Kant whether it is worthwhile for humans to live on
earth? We must start with the assumption that a
reasonable just political society is possible, and for it be
possible, human beings must have a moral nature, not of
course a perfect such nature.”
John Rawls, Political Liberalism (1995)
John Rawls (1921-2002)