Contemporary terrorism in the light of Carl Schmitt’s thought: The metamorphosis of the partisan

Abstract

The expansion of jihadist terrorism is considered one of the most serious problems of international politics. In order to understand its roots and conceptual origins it is necessary to take a look at the theory of the philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt. Schmitt devoted part of his work to the study of the partisan or guerrilla phenomenon. As he explains, the partisans emerged in the 19th century and they were categorized by their irregularity, their mobility and their political and telluric nature. With the development of the technique and in the context of the bipolar struggle, the partisans of the 20th century would lose the restraint which characterized them initially. There is a debate about whether the terrorist of the 21st century appears as the evolution of these partisans or if, on the contrary, it constitutes a different figure. To answer this question I compare in this article, from the theoretical perspective of Carl Schmitt, the traits of the jihadist with those of the guerrilla.