Schmitt, Carl (1888–1895)

German political theorist and jurist. He created the concept of ‘decisionism’, which states that any legal order rests ultimately on sovereignty, and that the location of sovereignty depends on who has the power to make emergency decisions. A critic of liberalism and Weimar parliamentary democracy, Schmitt defended the Nazis' seizure of power and was an influential apologist for the new political order of the Third Reich.

From 1928 to 1945 he held a chair at the University of Berlin.