Carl Schmitt — The European Interpretation of Donoso Cortés

Carl Schmitt — The European Interpretation of Donoso Cortés

The European Interpretation of Donoso Cortés is a study devoted to the thought of the Spanish writer, diplomat, and politician Juan Donoso Cortés, an important figure for understanding certain currents of nineteenth-century European conservative political thought. Carl Schmitt examines Donoso Cortés’s work from a historical and political perspective, focusing on his views on authority, sovereignty, decision, and the crisis of the modern political order.

Schmitt pays particular attention to Donoso Cortés’s position toward liberalism, revolution, and parliamentarism, as well as his interpretation of the political transformations taking place in Europe during his time. The study also illustrates the importance Schmitt attributes to Donoso Cortés within the European intellectual tradition and his relationship to other thinkers in political theory.

A work of particular interest for the study of political theory, political philosophy, the history of European thought, state theory, and legal philosophy, as well as for understanding some of the intellectual sources underlying Carl Schmitt’s own work.