Political Theology

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie He's Just Not That Into You, but when I was reading the first section of Political Theology I just kept thinking of the part when Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) was talking about being the exception to the rule. In the movie Gigi is talking to her co-workers about stories of friends, or friends of friends, falling in love and meeting "the one". Gigi and her co-workers figured those girls to be the exceptions. Every girl is is the rule until she is the exception. If you're confused, it makes more sense in the movie. I recommend it, it is very funny.

Anyway, where Schmitt brings up the term exception, he was defining sovereignty. Schmitt says that the "sovereign is he who decides on the exception." What Schmitt means by exception is something that directly threatens the State. The Sovereign is the person who decides what is considered an exception and what can be done to protect the State.

Something I noticed about Schmitt was how critical he was of States based on liberal constitutions. He definitely didn't like division of power. He thought that division of power meant that it was too difficult for the sovereign to have power over the exception. Overall, I thought Schmitts' ideas were interesting. I don;t really agree with him but I can see how the Nazi party would pick up and run with his ideas.