From Nomos to Hegung: Sovereignty and the Laws of War in Schmitt's International Order

Jacques, Johanna

Abstract

Carl Schmitt's notion of nomos is commonly regarded as the international equivalent to the national sovereign's decision on the exception. But can concrete spatial order alone turn a constellation of forces into an international order? This article looks at Schmitt's work The Nomos of the Earth and proposes that it is the process of bracketing war called Hegung which takes the place of the sovereign in the international order Schmitt describes. Beginning from an analysis of nomos, the ordering function of the presocratic concept moira is explored. It is argued that the process of Hegung, like moira, does not just achieve the containment of war, but constitutes the condition of possibility for plural order.

Citation

Jacques, J. (2015). From Nomos to Hegung: Sovereignty and the Laws of War in Schmitt's International Order. Modern Law Review, 78(3), 411-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12122

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 8, 2014
• Online Publication Date: May 1, 2015
• Publication Date: May 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 8, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: May 1, 2017
• Journal: Modern Law Review
• Print ISSN: 0026-7961
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2230
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 78
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 411-430
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12122
• Keywords: Carl Schmitt, Nomos, Moira, Hegung, Hedge, Recognition, Sovereignty, Laws of war, International order.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1432233