„Totalni rat“, „totalni neprijatelj“ i „totalna država“ – Schmittovi koncepti u suvremenoj sigurnosnoj prizmi
Total war, total enemy and total state – Schmitt's concepts within a modern security perspective

Summary/Abstract: The theoretical concepts of Carl Schmitt, as well as much of his thought – particularly those developed under Hitler's regime – may be subjected to a value-based examination as regards the sense in which they served the Third Reich, represented opportunist considerations for the preservation of his own life, or constituted objective and ideologically untainted political and legal reflections on the state. Regardless of one's interpretative inclination or disinclination toward Schmitt’s character and work, and regardless of the circumstances under which he operated, certain concepts and ideas of Carl Schmitt are applicable in the analysis and explanation of specific contemporary political and security developments. For Schmitt’s claim about the absence of opposition between dictatorship and democracy, and his indication that any legal state can become total, it is possible to find contemporary examples. The universalist tendencies of liberal democracies – i.e., deterritorialisation and globalization – now lead to hegemonic interventions as dangerous as total wars, since they erase all boundaries (of territory) and blur the lines between war and peace, since through institutions like the state of emergency, war can become a permanent condition. One example is War on Terror, launched on September 11, 2001, which sustains a state in which certain legal norms are suspended, and revives Schmitt’s concept of total enemy, leading towards total war. The paper points to the analytical value of Schmitt’s concepts and, in its conclusion, offers an analogy with contemporary political and security phenomena, among which are terrorism, "global terrorism," and War on Terror.

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