This senior seminar in political theory is designed for an in-depth engagement with Max Weber and Carl Schmitt. Weber and Schmitt shared similar understanding of modernity that in their view culminated in a rationalized "iron cage" or a neutralized "total state"; and both called forth a revivification of the "political" as a way out of the otherwise inevitable petrification. Weber, however, reaffirmed liberal parliamentarism and pluralistically organized civil society as viable media for his project of (re)politicization, a project Schmitt scorned as too timid. Notoriously, Schmitt, a self-claimed student of Weber's, went on to become the "crown jurist" of the Third Reich. What are the political implications of the kind of cultural pessimism, or theories of modernity in general, that both Weber and Schmitt embraced? Why such different outcomes in terms of their political ideas? What do these similarities and differences tell us about the nature of the "political" in modern times? Investigating the theoretical tension between liberalism, modernity, and the political, we start with Weber's rationalization thesis as well as the political writings, and move on to examine major works by Schmitt. Format: seminar. Requirements: class participation, presentation and three 6- to 7-page papers. Prerequisite: two courses in political theory, including Political Science 232, Modern Political Thought. Enrollment limit: 15. Political Theory Subfield

Hour: KIM