Apr 22, 2010

By 1

The Lesson of Carl Schmitt, Part 3

Schmitt’s followers, extending and refining his thought, have with Rüdiger Altmann coined the concept of the Ernstfall (emergency case), which constitutes another fundamental criterion of the political. Political sovereignty and the credibility of a new political authority is based on the capacity to face and solve emergency cases. The dominant political ideologies, thoroughly...

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Apr 21, 2010

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The Lesson of Carl Schmitt, Part 2

Translated by Greg JohnsonSchmitt does not believe in the disappearance of the political. Any type of activity can take on a political dimension. The political is a fundamental concept of collective anthropology. As such, political activity can be described as substantial, essential, enduring through time. The state, on the other hand, enjoys only conditional authority, i.e., a...

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Apr 20, 2010

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The Lesson of Carl Schmitt, Part 1

Translated by Greg JohnsonWe met Carl Schmitt in the village of Plettenberg, the place of his birth and retirement. For four remarkable hours we conversed with the man who remains unquestionably the greatest political and legal thinker of our time. “We have been put out to pasture,” said Schmitt. “We are like domestic animals who enjoy the benefits of the closed field we are...

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Apr 14, 2010

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Ethnic Hegemonies in American History, Part 1

Political Philosophy and Human Genetic DiversityWestern Political philosophy tends toward moral and political universalism: the idea that norms are valid for all human beings. This presupposes either that human beings are biologically pretty much the same, or that human biodiversity is irrelevant to moral and political issues. Nevertheless, Western political philosophers initially...

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Apr 5, 2010

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Carl Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political

Note: The following short synthesis of Schmitt’s classic essay The Concept of the Political stems, in part, from a recent discussion with the Bay Area Nationalist Book Club.However it is posed, the question of the political is always about the most important issue facing every people.The political, though, is not to be confused with “politics” or...

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Dec 4, 2009

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Bonald’s Theory of the Nobility

Unlike Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre, Louis de Bonald devoted little space to analyzing the French Revolution itself. His focus instead was on understanding the traditional society which had been swept away. His review of Mme. de Staël’s Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution, e.g., ends up turning into a theory of the nobility and its function....

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Nov 5, 2009

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Hunter Wallace in Czech

Editor’s Note: “Elite Status” by Hunter Wallace, a.k.a. Prozium, has been translated into Czech as “Vládnoucí elita” and published on the Delian Diver (Délský potápěč) site. The article was originally published on Occidental Dissent, but Delian Diver found it on TOQ Online and linked to us. Congratulations Mr. Wallace!Kdo by měl...

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Nov 1, 2009

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Louis de Bonald, On Divorce, Part II

Read Part 1 here.DivorceThe reader may be forgiven for wondering why the foregoing matters are discussed at length in a treatise called On Divorce. Today we are inclined to view marriage as a “personal matter.” But it is not. Most obviously, it also concerns the interests of the children it produces:Public power is the guarantor of the commitment of the two spouses to form a...

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Oct 31, 2009

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Louis de Bonald, On Divorce, Part I

On Divorce Louis de BonaldTranslated and edited by Nicholas DavidsonNew Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1992On the European continent, Louis de Bonald has long been named alongside Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre as a foremost first generation critic of the French Revolution and founder of modern conservatism. De Maistre himself, late in life, wrote to Bonald: “I have...

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Oct 20, 2009

By 12

Elite Status

Who should rule?Logging on this morning, I see that this has once again become a burning issue among the commentators. So far, I haven’t had much to say about the topic. I don’t aspire to rule over anyone. Becoming a politician isn’t a good fit with my introverted personality type. It is a task that I would prefer to leave to others. We have already had one commentator storm...

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