Conference paper

Liberal Democracy and War

Davor Rodin ; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The author expounds Carl Schmitt's proposition that civil war is the essence of liberal democracy. The relationship friend-foe is the basis of Schmitt's definition of the concept of the political. In this way Schmitt has existentialistically radicalized and actualized Hobbes' principle of the war waged by everybody against everybody. If the set-up of liberal democratic society is defined in this way it follows that war between citizens of one state and war between states are equally inevitable as they are uncontrolable. Postwar experience with earlier European crises shows that they were all solved by secondary means. With the ending of the cold war, however, the much praised secondary means do not function any longer. The reason is that they are no more controlled by the tacit political consensus between European countries which is also directly demonstrated by the current war in the Balkans.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

112189

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/112189

Publication date:

1.12.1992.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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