Preparing For The Political German Intellectuals Confront The Berlin Republic

Duke University Press
New German Critique

Preparing for the Political: German Intellectuals Confront the "Berlin Republic"
Author(s): Jan Mller
Source: New German Critique, No. 72 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 151-176
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/488572
Accessed: 11-10-2015 22:40 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/488572?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Duke University Press and New German Critique are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to New
German Critique.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 200.17.203.24 on Sun, 11 Oct 2015 22:40:19 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Preparingfor thePolitical.
GermanIntellectualsConfront
the "BerlinRepublic"
JanMiller
has a doublemeaning.It signifies
The GermanwordBegriindung
not
butalso providing
a rationale.
We are now approachonlyfoundation,
of whathas beenvariously
calledthenew Federal
ingtheBegriindung
Third
most
theBerlinRepublic.
the
Republic,or,
commonly,
Republic,
Of course,one could argue that the real historicalbreak already
of thetwoGermanies
in
occurredeightyearsago, withtheunification
October1990 as its officialcompletion.But while 3 October1990
therewas arguablyinsufficient
mighthave been a formalfoundation,
in the "rushto unity."l
timeforthe otherdimensionof Begriindung
thefederalgovernment's
moveto Berlin,scheduled
More importantly,
for1999,is a highlysymbolic,
almostconstitutional
of the
Begriindung
BerlinRepublicin a way thatthe anticlimactic
in 1990
unification
neverwas.2 Moreover,1999 is theofficialstarting
date forEuropean
EconomicandMonetary
Union.Consequently,
we can speakofa loomthatposes thechallengeof establishing
normaing doublefoundation
tivefoundations
andcreating
publicmeaning.
In thispaper,I wantto analyzethepublicinterventions
of German
who have attempted
intellectuals
to lay down normative
foundations
forthe future
polityof theBerlinRepublic.Because of therelatively
1. See KonradJarausch,
TheRushtoGermanUnity
UP, 1994).
(NewYork:Oxford
2. See also Friedrich
Was bedeuKilometer
Ostnordost:
"Fiinfhundert
Dieckmann,
Merkur
51.4 (1997): 308-18.
tetdieVerlagerung
derdeutschen
Bundeshauptstadt?"
151
152
Preparingfor thePolitical
and the finalmove of

drawn-out
periodbetweenGermanunification
to Berlin,intellectuals
theFederalParliament
havehad ampleopportuframeworks
normative
forthe new republicand to
nityto formulate
narrative.
call a legitimation
providewhatGermanpoliticalscientists
Unlikethe cases of Bonn or Weimar,and unlikethe situationof the
Germanintellectuals
have been able to project
"rushto unification,"
onto1999andbeyond.
thelessonsfrom1989anditsaftermath
whichdeals explicitly
Recentyearshave seen a growingliterature
literature
also containsa
withthe BerlinRepublic.This foundational
a
discourse
about
what
constitutes
the
other
whole
dimension,
namely
"thepolitical,"as such.This curious
of politics,or rather,
foundation
of "thepolitical,"thatis, thetransformation
of
linguisticconstruction
was madefamous
theadjective"political"intothenoun"thepolitical,"
- or rather,notorious- by Carl Schmitt's1927 book The Concept of

thePolitical [Der Begriffdes Politischen].3Before Schmitt,the concept
ofgeneralconstiofthepoliticalwas in use,butintheGermantradition
tutionallaw doctrines[AllgemeineStaatsrechtslehre]it was equivalent
couldstillwritethat"in theconceptof the

to thestate.4GeorgJellinek
politicalone has alreadythoughtthe conceptof the state,"a view
was thefirstto pointoutthecircular
sharedby Max Weber.5Schmitt
fromthestateto thepoliticalandback.He detachedthepolitreasoning
ical fromthestate,and openedhis mostfamousworkwiththedictum
theconceptofthepolitical."6
that"theconceptof thestatepresupposes
Schmittwenton to arguethat"thepoliticalis the mostintenseand
and every concreteantagonismbecomes that
extremeantagonism,
muchmorepoliticalthe closerit approachesthe mostextremepoint,
exercised
thatof thefriend-enemy
grouping."Justas muchas Schmitt
in West
on conservative
constitutional
influence
a subterranean
thought
relathisconceptof thepolitical,definedas a friend/enemy
Germany,
which
haunt
West
German
came
to
science,
explicitly
political
tionship,
The Conceptof thePolitical,trans.GeorgeSchwab(Chicago:
3. Carl Schmitt,
- das
Meier,"Zu CarlSchmitt's
Begriffsbildung
ChicagoUP, 1996).See also Christian
Politische und der Nomos," Complexio Oppositorum: Uber Carl Schmitt,ed. Helmut
1988)537-56.
(Berlin:Duncker& Humblot,
Quaritsch
4.
See Kari Palonen,Politikals
Horizontwandeldes Politikbegriff
5.
Andreas Anter,Max WebersTheoriedes modernenStaates: Herkunft,

Struktur
6.
7.
Schmitt,Concept of thePolitical 19.

Schmitt,Concept of thePolitical 29.
Handlungsbegriff:
1890-1933(Helsinki:
The
Finnish
inDeutschland
1985).
SocietyofSciencesandLetters,
undBedeutung
(Berlin:Duncker& Humblot,
1995)51.
JanMiiller
153
re-education.8
itselfas a scienceof democratic
understood
Dolf Sterntried
wrestthe
in
of
this
democratic
to
science,
doyen
berger particular,
the
from
the
and
redefine
as
the
"area
of all
concept
right
political
endeavorto seek and securepeace."9But Schmit'sagonisticdefinition
remaineda provocation(and an ideologicalweapon) in a country
whichhad the largestpeace movementin the Westernworld,and
fromactualinternational
whichremained
conflict.
largelysheltered
therehas been an inflationary
use of theexpression"the
Recently,
political,"and thenumberof booksdealingwithits naturehas grown
10 This preoccupation
withthepolitical,however,is not
exponentially.
to
the
Berlin
it is also a reaca
Republic:mostobviously,
just response
tionto whathas now becomeone of thegreatidces recuspost-1989,
of thepolitical"after
notionof a "return
namelytheoftenill-defined
thefallof theWall,whichis also subjectto muchdebatein theUnited
Germanintellectuals
also respondto what
Statesand western
Europe.11
dissatisfaction
in theearlyand mid-1990swas perceivedas widespread
coinedas Politikverdrossenheit,
withpolitics,a phenomenon
literally
in the
"beingfedup withpolitics."This sensewas aptlysummarized
ohne
edited
a
1993
titleof
Politik
collection,
Suhrkamp
Projekt?[Polia Project?].12
ticswithout
Then,as now,largesectionsof theGerman
and as lacking
populationviewedthe politicalclass as unresponsive
and
vision.On a moresubtlelevel,one couldarguethatintellectuals,
have engagedwiththe political
in particularleft-wing
intellectuals,
becausetheyfelttheneedto rebuttheconservative
chargeof "failure"
8. On Schmitt'sinfluencethroughthe conservative
circles[Gesprdichskreise]
desSchweigens:
CarlSchmitt
aroundhim,see DirkvanLaak,GespricheinderSicherheit
inderGeistesgeschichte
(Berlin:Akademie,1993).
derfriihen
Bundesrepublik
Die Politik
undderFriede(Frankfurt/Main:
9. DolfSternberger,
1986)76.
Suhrkamp,
Zu einerTheoriereflexiver
ModerdesPolitischen:
10. UlrichBeck,Die Erfindung
1993);OskarNegtandAlexander
(Frankfurt/Main:
nisierung
Suhrkamp,
Kluge,MaJfverdesPolitischen:
zumUnterscheidungsvermdgen
hdltnisse
15 Vorschldge
(Frankfurt/Main:
desPolitischen:
Fischer,1992);Metamorphosen
Grundfragen
politischer
Einheitsbildung
seitden20erJahren,
eds.AndreasG6bel,DirkvanLaak,andIngeborg
Villinger
(Berlin:
des Politischen
Akademie,1995); ThomasMeyer,Die Transformation
(Frankfurt/Main:
Theoretische
Dimensionen
1994);FrankR. Pfetsch,
Suhrkamp,
HandlungundReflexion:
Wissenschaftliche
des Politischen
1995);andDie Zukunft
(Darmstadt:
Buchgesellschaft,
ed. PeterKemper(Frankfurt/
desPolitischen:
Theoretische
Ausblicke
aufHannahArendt,
Main:Fischer,1993).
11. Forthemostfamous,
see ChantalMouffe,
TheReturn
ofthePolitical(London:
Verso,1993).
ed. Siegfried
Unseld
12. See PolitikohneProjekt?Nachdenken
iiberDeutschland,
1993).
(Frankfurt/Main:
Suhrkamp,
154
and being"apolitical"beforeand duringunification.

Finally,thereis
on Germany:
two Scottishnamesincreasthe impactof globalization
ingly come to haunt the lives of ordinaryGermans,namely
whichGerfora low-wageserviceeconomy,
McDonald's,as shorthand
in theUnitedStates;and McKinsey,as shorthand
manssee prefigured
stateand economywhichjettisonswelfare
rationalized
fora thoroughly
econthesocialmarket
and dissolvestheconsensusunderlying
benefits
for
a
streamlined
has
become
a
state"
The
synonym
"McKinsey
omy.
whichmost Germans
whichsatisfiesthe resentment
administration,
notion
butalso putsan endto anypaternalist
feeltowardsbureaucrats,
for
the
in
Thomas
Mann's
reverence
of the state,stillbest expressed
and theexpoGeneralDr. vonStaat.Thus,theprocessof globalization
sureof Germanyto worldpoliticsand theworldeconomyhave been
an additionalmotiveforcein engagingwith"thepolitical,"sinceglobalization,far frombeing merelya matterof objectivenecessities
is also perceived
as a politicalproject.
[Sachzwdnge],
This articlecategorizesthesevariousdoubleor even triplefoundawhichhave been
tionalexercises.It analyzestheideologicalstrategies
in
Berlin
the
discourse
on
the
future
Republic,and
emerging
prominent
to fixthemeaningof thepolitical.I shall startwithwhat
theattempt
one mightcall theOld Right,by whichI meantheliberal-conservative
I shall
FederalRepublic.Subsequently,
opinionmakersof the former
moveon to thethreemainresponsesby theleft,and arguethatexplicall theseapproachessituatethemselves
withreferitly,or implicitly,
ence to whatare usuallyseenas thetwoGermanclassicsof "thinking
and HannahArendt.This is notto say that
thepolitical,"Carl Schmitt
of thepoliticalexhausts
or an Arendtian
eithera Schmittian
conception
of the
is oftencalled"thefirstphilosopher
thisconcept.WhileSchmitt
JohnEly has
political,"the case of Arendtis muchless clear-cut.13
of
Arendtin theirdefinition
whomarshall
recently
arguedthattheorists
misconstrued
her thoughtin a typithe politicalhave fundamentally
to
manner.14
Ely pointsoutthattheveryattempt
callyGerman&tatist
and a "philosopher
of the
make Arendtintoa politicalexistentialist
and
political"atteststo the weaknessof civic republicantraditions
13. HeinerBielefeldt,
PolitscherExistentialismus
bei
Kampfund Entscheidung:
PlessnerundKarl Jaspers(Wtirzburg:
undNeuCarl Schmitt,
Helmuth
K6nigshausen
mann,1994) 19.
14. JohnEly,"Political,
CivicandTerritorial
ViewsofAssociation,"
ThesisEleven
46 (1996): 33-65.
JanMiller
155
in Germany.
In anycase, I shallpaycarefulattention
modesof thought
of
the
to theparticular
conception
politicalbeingproposed:is itposited
in linewithLuhmannand,arguably,
as a kindof system,
or subsystem,
Weber?A conception
of thepoliticalas a separatesphere(thoughnot
as a system)was also Carl Schmitt'sfirstversionof Conceptof the
of
Political,beforeLeo Strausspointedout thatsucha differentiation
thepoliticalfromotherdomainsremainedwithinthe logic of liberalwhichmakes
ism.15Or is thepoliticalconceivedas a kindof attribute,
anotherthingpolitical,or as a peculiarrelation,
or as something
subor evenas a sortof energy,
a formof rawmaterial,
as Oskar
stantive,
Negt and AlexanderKluge have argued?16Schmitthimself,under
Strauss'sinfluence,
shifted
to theconceptofthepoliticalas a degreeof
now
denoted
intensity:
political
any antagonismwhichbecame so
intenseas to pose an existential
threat.HannahArendt,however,did
not seek one definition
of thepolitical.17
She madea greatnumberof
claims about politicsand was adamantthatpoliticswas primarily
and disclosure.18
But can
action,and themeaningof politicsfreedom
an Arendtian
of
nevertheless
be
recast
as
"the
conception politics
political" and thenbe playedoffagainstdie Politikas officialpolitics,that
As we shallsee, manyobservers
makethis
is, thepoliticalsubsystem?
seeminglyparadoxicalmove by claimingthatthe politicalhas disapfrompolitics.19
peared,or is at leastbeingdrained,
Finally,thisinvestigationhas to confront
Agnes Heller'sclaimthat"the conceptof the
and that"the malaise
politicalyieldsradicalpoliticalphilosophies,"
a
as
the
of
which,
rule, accompanies concept the political"is the
Whileexclusionis in factinherent
"obsessionwithexclusion."20
in any
15. See Heinrich
& Leo Strauss:TheHiddenDialogue,trans.J.
Meier,CarlSchmitt
HarveyLomax(Chicago:ChicagoUP, 1995).
16. See NegtandKluge,MafJverhiltnisse
desPolitischen.
17. Arendtdid claimthattheGreeks"discovered
theessenceandtherealmof the
which,inall ofherwork,might
political."She wenton tomakea remark,
putherclosest
to Schmitt,
whenshewrotethat"onlyforeign
becausetherelationships
between
affairs,
nationsstillharborhostilities
andsympathies
whichcannotbe reducedto economicfacBetweenPast and Future:
tors,seemtobe leftas a purelypoliticaldomain."See Arendt,
(NewYork:Penguin,1993) 154and 155.
EightExercisesinPoliticalThought
18. On theimportance
ofthedisclosivenatureofpoliticsin Arendt,
see theexcellentdiscussioninDana R. Villa,Arendt
andHeidegger:TheFate ofthePolitical(Princeton:Princeton
UP, 1996).
19. See inparticular,
ThomasMeyer,Die Transformation
des Politischen.
20. AgnesHeller,"TheConceptofthePoliticalRevisited,"
PoliticalTheoryToday,
ed. DavidHeld(Cambridge:
Polity,1991)332 and336.
156
the suspicionremainsthata deinstitutionalized

conceptor definition,
theliberal,thatis,moderating
with
rulesofthepolitpoliticaldispenses
ical game and becomesfreelyavailableto politicizeotherdomainsof
in thewakeof thepre-1989resurgence
humanlife.Moreover,
of civil
be
in
intellectuals
not
to coneastern
Western
led
society
Europe,might
with the political?21In short,then,the question
fuse anti-politics
remainswhetherthe veryconceptof "the political"worksits own
liberalorrepublican
intentions.
logic,evenagainstexplicitly
I
the
omissionin my
before
two
caveats:
obvious
However,
start,
"New
and
the
so-called
left
is
about
Right,"over which
right
story
The reasonis simplythatI do not
muchinkhas been spilledrecently.
believethattheNew Right,despitehavingadoptedbothSchmittand
has had muchsuccessin its self-conGramscias theirguidingspirits,
in Germany.
Justreadto establisha cultural
sciousattempt
hegemony
the
New
scare
rebuttals
of
Jacob
Heilbrunn's
about
the
Right
story
ing
one senses a consensusboth
in the recentissue of ForeignAffairs,
and foreignobserversthatthe danger
among Germanintellectuals
New
been effectively
the
has
banished.22
Moreover,
Right
posed by
theirpoliticswas
the
idea
of
1968
from
the
from
replicating
right,
apart
or liberalmain"withouta project"just as muchas theconservative
stream.Whilewe mightlive in a timewhentaboo-breaking
can pass
thefactthatthetwoare notthesame is madepainfully
fortheorizing,
obviouswhenit comesto fillingpolicywithsubstance.In thatregard,
theNew Rightcouldofferonlysloganswhichremained
fixnegatively
of 1968, or proposepolicieswhich,by and
ated on the generation
was alreadypursuing.
large,theKohlgovernment
a
more
namelytheuse of
Secondly,
generalremarkon terminology,
A post-1989idce recuwhicheasily
a distinction
betweenleftandright.
that
of thepoliticalin its popularity,
is theargument
beatsthereturn
leftand righthave losttheirmeaning.Now, curiously,
hardlyanyone
on whatused to be called- and stillcalls itself- therightactually
betweenleftand
saysthis.It is a confusedleftthatblursthedistinction
of theenthusiasm
forcivilsociety,bothin its
21. Fortwoveryeffective
critiques
see SheriBerman,
"CivilSocietyandtheColandeastern
version,
European
Tocquevillian
Politics49.3 (1997):401-29;andThomazMastnak,
lapseoftheWeimarRepublic,"World
"Fascists,Liberals,and Anti-Nationalism,"
Europe 's New Nationalism:Statesand Minori-
tiesinConflict,
eds.RichardCaplan,andJohnFeffer
UP, 1996)59-74.
(NewYork:Oxford
22. See JacobHeilbrunn,
NewRight,"
75.6(1996): 80"Germany's
ForeignAffairs
to theeditorby JosefJoffe
et al., "Mr Heilbrunn's
98; and theletters
Planet,"Foreign
Affairs76. 2 (1997): 152-61.
Jan Midler
157
enablingtherightto cooptleftistideas and

right,thereby
unwittingly
who can presentthemselves
intellectuals
as origiformerly
left-leaning
The
thinkers.
whether
old
or
nal, taboo-shattering
new, know
right,
who
do
not
alwaysknowwhattheywant
exactly
theyare,thoughthey
3 Thereis at leastsomereason,then,
hegemony.
apartfromdiscursive
a "Sternhellish
to believethatwe are experiencing
moment"in which
and intellectual
froma left,mired
figures
migrate
concepts,arguments,
incrisisandconfusion,
totheright.24
OldRight,NewlyPolitical
In a recent article in the Frankfurter

AllgemeineZeitung, Henning
directedtowardsthe futureGerRitterassertedthat"the expectation

as follows:thatthe BerlinRepublicwill be
manycan be formulated
to Ritter,
more'political'thantheBonnRepublic."25
thisis
According
has regaineditssovereignty.
The
notonlydue to thefactthatGermany
in
BerlinRepublicis also particularly
with
its
contrast
political
predeThe
cessor,thefirstpostwarRepublicwithitsapoliticalbasic features.
Bonn Republicwas one of thefewinstancesin whichWaltherRathist das Schickenau's dictumthatthe economyis fate [Die Wirtschaft
sal] actuallyturnedout to be true.Ritteralso arguedthatBonn had

in itspost-national
idealization
of
developeda certainutopiantendency
its own statusof occupation,whichwas projectedas the futureof
in general.In retrospect,
Ritterargued,theBonnRepublic
nation-states
would be praisedas a paradise,althoughno one noticedits utopian
qualitiesatthetimeofitsexistence.
intellectuals
have adoptedthis contrastand the
Many conservative
of
a
future
thatis somehowmorepolitical.Whatdoes thepolitinotion
It signifies
aboveall regained
nationalsovercal referto in thiscontext?
an increasedpotential
forconflicts,
but,evenmoreimportantly,
eignty,
23. On movements
acrosstheideologicalspectrum
and someof centralbeliefsof
derMitte:VomrechtenVerstdndnis
theNew Right,see Extremismus
deutscher
Nation,
ed. Hans-Martin
Lohmann(Frankfurt/Main:
Fischer,1994); fora nicelypolemicaltreatmentofthesubject,see RichardHerzinger
andHannesStein,Endzeit-Propheten
oderdie
der Antiwestler:
Antiamerikanismus
und Neue Rechte
Fundamentalismus,
Offensive
(Reinbek:Rowohlt,1995).
24. Zeev Sternhell,
withMarioSznajderandMaia Asheri,TheBirthofFascistIdePrinceton
UP, 1994).
(Princeton:
ology:FromCulturalRebellionto PoliticalRevolution
CivicandTerritorial
See also Ely,"Political,
ViewsofAssociation"
52.
25. Henning
reipublicae:
DerUmzugvonRegierung
"Translatio
undParlament
Ritter,
derBerliner
als Grtindungsakt
18Dec. 1996.
Frankfurter
Republik,"
Allgemeine
Zeitung
158
Preparing
forthePolitical
withregardto botha newroleforGermany

on theworldstageandconis regained,
but"normality,
flictwithinGermany.
i.e. Berlin
Normality
of
instead
Bonn
of
all
the
means
most
of
Republic,
Republic
normality
This
of
as
made
was
instability."26 prediction normality instability
by
der BerlinerRepublik,
JohannesGrossin his 1995 book Begriindung
whichremainsso farthemostcomprehensive
conservative
statement
on
television
theBerlinRepublic.Gross,publicist,
politicalpundit,
personhas followedthedevelopment
of the
ality,and friendof Carl Schmitt
on thestateof the
old FederalRepublicwithmanybookscommenting
reliableguideto center-right
and can be takenas a generally
Germans,
the
of
sentiments.
Internally, normality instability
predicted
by Gross
the
consensus
the
of
resultsfrom disappearance
corporatist
underlying
FederalRepublic,as theparties,theunions,the churches,
the former
are weakened.With
and thewholesystemof proportionality
patronage
thelegitimacy
thisweakening,
ofthepoliticalsystemis increasingly
not
the
in
a matter
butof security:
state
that
the
of legality,
functions
only
will be accepted.27
sense of providing
its citizenswithsecurity
Gross
Rathenau'sdictumandreaffirms
repudiates
Napoleon'sthatin factpoliticsis fate[Die Politikistdas Schicksal].ForGross,following
thejurist
ErnstForsthoff
and Forsthoff's
the
Carl
old
Federal
teacher,
Schmitt,
becausethestatebecamemerelyan instrument
Republicwas apolitical,
forthesatisfaction
of socialneeds.The state,increasingly
indistinguishable fromsociety,was all-pervasive
in its interventions,
and yetweak
in itsunwillingness
to exerciseauthority.28
to Gross,redistriAccording
nor enemies,but onlyevermore
bution,whichknowsneitherfriends
is apolitical,
whiledecision-making
andtherealization
of difrecipients,
ferent
is
As
much
West
German
as
politicaloptions political.
politicians
in theirsupport
of Carl Schmitt,
mightrejectthefriend/enemy
thinking
of an indiscriminate
welfarestatetheyactuallypreservea National
Socialistlegacy:the idea of the Volksgemeinschaft
[nationalcommua trulypoliticalfigure,
Chancellor
Kohlrepresents
Surprisingly,
nity].29
and engagesin an unlimited
becausehe pursuesinterests
friend/enemy
it.30
while
thinking, publicly
denouncing
26.
JohannesGross,Begriindungder BerlinerRepublik:Deutschland am Ende des
27.
Gross 53.
20. Jahrhunderts
DeutscheVerlags-Anstalt,
1995)42.
(Stuttgart:
28.
29.
30.
Gross61.
Gross62.
Gross71-72.
JanMiller
159
Gross soundsa call forGermanyto face the realityof

Externally,
whichis of
powerpoliticsand to finallydefineits nationalinterests,
shouldthinkmoreclearly
courseanother
wayof sayingthatthecountry
and enemiesare. On theotherhand,due to the
aboutwho its friends
is said to experience
a loss of politicalsubstance,
in the
EU, Germany
formof decision-making
be
which
can
somewhat
capacity,
compensated
In otherwords,whilethesubforby increasednationalrepresentation.
stanceofthepoliticalas decision-making
capacityin thefaceofconflict
is drainedaway by Brussels,theaestheticization
of statepowerin the
newcapitalcouldat leastpreserve
thefacadeofpolitics.Notby chance,
the coverof Gross's slimvolumeshowsthe fakeBerlinStadtschloj3,
thatis, themake-believe
palace facadewhichBerlinerscould contemfor
a
while
to
whether
see
theymightenjoyhavingtherealcopy
plate
around.However,whileEuropelimitsthescope of thepoliticalin forof thepolitical"in domeseignpolicy,Berlinwill retaina "reservation
Berlinwillbe boththeGerman
ticpolicy.Finally,in Gross'sprediction,
and New York,a metropolis
whichfinallyunitestheelites
Washington
of business,media,andpolitics,andwhichcouldsatisfy
Gross'snostala
more
for
[tasteful
class]
upper
age. Hostesseswill
gia
grofjbiirgerliche
the
to
class
is
supposed openitselfup to the
keepopenhouses, political
the
and
mediarepresentademocratic
publicsphere,
currently
moralizing
a
more
for
find
little
realities.
tivesmight
finally
respect political
On the otherhand,and somewhatsurprisingly,
Gross predictsthat
theBerlinRepublicwillbe morepoliticalbecauseit will containmore
elements.This is advocatedto counterthejuridification
of
plebiscitary
Germanpolitics throughthe constitutional
court,and to actually
increasestability
by channelling
politicalenergieswhichtheold parties
canno longerattract.31
andorganizations
Gross's analysishas a mildlySchmittian
subtext,
but,moreimpora
follows
of
set
the
terrible
oftheGertantly,
pattern thought by
enfant
manintellectual
Karl
Heinz
Bohrer.
in
establishment,
Already theearly
Bohrer
had
combined
a
cultural
1980s,
critiqueof the old Federal
and apolitical,withan affirmation
of theautonRepublicas provincial
Bohrerhad also
omy of the politicalfrommoral considerations.32
called fora new politicalclass capableof sovereigndecision-making,
whichwouldbe similarto themetropolitan
elitesof Londonand Paris.
31. Gross110-17.
32. See forinstance,
KarlHeinzBohrer,"Die Asthetik
des Staates,"Merkur38.1
(1984): 1-15.
160
In thisreading,thestateneedsa new formof representation

and aesbutalso a newself-assurance.
the
theticization,
Thus,forconservatives,
forconflict.
aboveall, a synonym
politicalremains,
Theyinsistthatthe
decisionpoliticalremainsthemonopolyof the state,as authoritative
the
answer
the
of
increased
remains
to
external
and
challenge
making
of
elementsmightbolsterthe legitimacy
internal
conflict.Plebiscitary
in an increasingly
uncerthestate,butits capacityto providesecurity
tainworldremainsits primesourceof support.All of this,however,
of conservative
of theold
remainswell withinthemainstream
thought
Federal Republic,and could be foundin any book by Hans-Peter
Schwarz,HermannLtibbe,or Odo Marquard.Thus, conservative
conventional.
totheBerlinRepublicremainsurprisingly
responses
andPostnationality
Habermas:TheBerlinRepublicbetween
Normality
Habermasbest represents
those West Germanintellectuals
Jtirgen
of thepoliticalprinciples
who havearguedforan extension
underlying
transfer
of soverthe old FederalRepublic,combinedwitha further
For Habermas,thelegacyof thehasty
eigntyto Europeaninstitutions.
is thata comand theabsenceof a republican
re-foundation
unification
to
be
reached
discursive
has
about
political
prehensive
agreement yet
BerlinRepublicshouldlook
whatthe "normality"
of theapproaching
like.33The ironyis thatHabermas,
whilebeingtheintellectual
mostin
favorof continuity
withthepoliticalcultureof theold FederalRepubmostvocallyin favorof a grandioseact of
lic,was also theintellectual
foundation.34
ofthenewGermanrepublicwas
However,thefoundation
as strictly
a re-foundation,
so as to ensurethe
alwaysintended
precisely
of
the
German
consciousness.
For
emerging
republican
strengthening
1990
remains
a
to
reaffirm
the
Western
vallost
Habermas,
opportunity
ues of theold FederalRepublicand to beginthelifeof thelargerGerself-assurance
[Selbstvergewisserung].
manywitha democratic
thequestion
and withHabermasin particular,
As alwaysin Germany,
is boundup withGermanhistoriography.
of self-understanding
Habermas
whichundermine
theold Federal
sees tworevisionary
emerging
readings
to a nationalhissuccessstory:one is thereturn
Republicas a western
Second
and the
in
which
continuities
with
the
are
Empire affirmed
tory,
is
as
the
real
the
other
FederalRepublicnecessarily
appears
Sonderweg;
33.
Habermas,Die Normalitdteiner BerlinerRepublik:Kleine Politische Schriften
VIII(Frankfurt/Main:
1995) 171.
Suhrkamp,
NewGerman
52 (1991):84-101.
34. Habermas,
"Yetagain:German
Identity,"
Critique
JanMiller
161
of a globalcivilwar,inspired
thenarrative
and,more
by Carl Schmitt
ErnstNolte,whichplacestheNazison thesideoftheoccidental
recently,
in its fightagainstBolshevism.
Of course,Habermaswants
bourgeoisie
theradicalbreakof 1945,butalso seeksto relativize
theregainto affirm
will
of
in
"1989
a
national
1990:
remain
sovereignty
only
happydate,
ing
us lessons."35
For
as longas we respect1945as theonethatreallytaught
in
the
outlived
its
with
nation-state
has
usefulness
Habermas,
dealing
whichrespectno nationalboundaries.
In thefaceofglobalizaproblems
tion,new formsof social cohesionare necessaryto preserveboth
andtheruleof law: thisnewsocialcohesionis of courseto
democracy
be a post-national,
one,partsofwhichHabermassees prefigrepublican
new supraTo cope withglobalchallenges,
uredin theUnitedStates.36
national,more "abstract"public spheresand new formsof social
have to be createdat the Europeanlevel. Thus,the Berlin
solidarity
withStrassbourg
andBrusselsinmind.
can
Republic onlybe thought
Wheredoes thisleavethepolitical?Habermashardlyneedsa theoretof combecausehis conception
ical discourseofthepoliticalpost-1989,
withArendt
actionalreadycontainsan implicit
municative
engagement
and Schmitt.Whetheror not the view of Arendt'smajordisciplein
is correct
thatHabermashas misreadand conErnstVollrath,
Germany,
of
tinuesto misreadArendtby forcingher conceptionof a plurality
the
fact
into
a
and
voluntarist
consensualist
straitjacket,
opinions
on the leftwho
remainsthatHabermaswas one of the fewthinkers
withArendt'snotionofpraxis.37In his recentturn
engagedcreatively
his commitHabermashas againaffirmed
to legal and politicaltheory,
and deliberative
mentto a procedural
democracy,
rejectinga republicanismwhichhe sees a "ethicallyoverburdened."38
Takingelements
the
of commuandrepublicanism
sense
frombothclassicliberalism
(in
of
an
Habermas
nitarianism),
proposes understanding democracyas
andproceduralist.
bothdeliberative
He rejectsan Arendtian
republicanwhich
he
with
the
ism,
Schmittian)
equates
(incidentally,
categoryof a
of society,"as an "understanding
of politics
"politicalself-organization
whichis polemicallydirectedagainstthestateapparatus."3Habermas
Die Normalitdt
35. Habermas,
einerBerliner
Republik187.
Die Normalitdt
einerBerliner
36. Habermas,
Republik181.
HannahArendts
"HannahArendt
bei denLinken,"Einschnitte:
37. ErnstVollrath,
Denkenheute,eds.AntoniaGrunenberg
andLotharProbst(Bremen:Temmen,
politisches
1995)9-22.
des Anderen:Studienzur politischenTheorie
38. Habermas,Die Einbeziehung
1996)277.
(Frankfurt/Main:
Suhrkamp,
162
to fusestateand society,and
rejectswhathe sees as Arendt'stendency
herneglectof theimportance
of institutionalizing
forpublic
procedures
as
relies
she
on
reasoning,
solely communicatively
generated
power.40
and publicethical
Againstsuchan accountof bothpopularsovereignty
life[Sittlichkeit],
wantspractical
reasontoretreat
fromtheconHabermas
in theproceand be institutionalized
of a community
creteSittlichkeit
of democracy.41
dureswhichensurethecommunicative
presuppositions
AmericanHabermas'svisionis thusnotveryfarremovedfromcurrent
the
status
of
the
old
Federal
liberalism
and,
Repubarguably,
quo
style
remainscloserto sucha statusquo thanto any grand
lic. It certainly
renewala la Arendt.
republican
BeckInventsthePolitical
Arendtian
Second,therehas been whatI would call an implicitly
in the
the
constellation.
This
is
clear
to
post-1989
particularly
approach
iconoclastlike the sociologistUlrichBeck. Beck
case of a self-styled
in thepublikea sociologicalprophet
has arguablybecomesomething
The initialbook
lic spheresince his successful"risksociety-thesis."
Risk Society: Towardsa New Modernitywas fortuitously

timed:it came
and crystallized
theenvironmental
anxietiesof
outjust afterChernobyl
the 1980s,butat thesame timepaintedan optimistic
pictureof what
in many
Thisdifferent
Beck calleda "different
modernity
modernity."42
it was to
Habermas'sincomplete
waysresembled
projectof modernity:
be a radicalizedmodernity
thattranscended
industrial
society,and was
the
silent
of
about
revolution
a
"reflexive
modernization,"
by
brought
thatis,by"simplemodernization's"
andinvisiexternalized,
unintended,
whichwouldadd up to a structural
Thisidea
ble consequences,
rupture.
a
of whatPeterOsbornehas aptlycharacterized
as "persisting
buttranshas arguablysatisfied
a longingamongthepostsoformedmodernity"
cialistleftforengaging
with"thetotalising
of thephilosophical
heritage
andforholdingon to theprojectofmodernizadiscourseofmodernity,"
it.43On another
level,RiskSociety
tion,whilealso radicallycriticizing
39.
Habermas 286. See also Carl Schmitt,Positionen und Begriffeim Kampf mit
Versailles
1988) 151.
(1940; Berlin:Duncker& Humblot,
Weimar-Genf-
40.
See also Habermas, Faktizitdtund Geltung.:Beitrdgezur Diskurstheoriedes
Rechtsund des demokratischen
Rechtsstaats(Frankfurt/Main:
Suhrkamp,1992) 182-87.
41.
Habermas,Die Einbeziehungdes Anderen286.
42.
See Ulrich Beck, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity,trans.Mark Ritter
(London:Sage, 1992).
Jan Midiller
163
on conceptual
offered
to "breakthestranglehold
innovation
imposedby
It
also
the fruitless
postmodernity
repudiated
nonchalantly
debate.""44
the drearinessand paralysisof systemstheoryand Marxism,which
could not conceiveof a modernization
of modernity
withoutpolitical
or large-scalesocial disruptions.
revolution
Beck's emphasison new
spaces openingup forpoliticalaction,on subterranean
changeswhich
wouldsuddenly
of expertschimedwell
erupt,andon thedelegitimation
withtheeventsof 1989 and withthedesireto breakout of whatGermancitizensperceivedas an immobile,
relecorporatist
society.Another
vantfactorwas thatsociologyaccording
to Beck couldsimplybe funto
read.Whilehis fellowsociologists
mightsneerat Beck's popularizing
he
did
the
old FederalRepublicwitha selfflair, certainly provide
in
which
it
and
did
could
itself.
image
recognize
In the 1990s,Beck has calledfornothing
less thanthe"invention
of
that"ourfateis thatwe haveto inventthepolitithepolitical,"arguing
cal anew.'45The questionis, of course,whatBeck understands
by the
as the
political.He definesit,in a mannerbothlimitedand optimistic,
social
to
out
capacity shape
reality,conspicuously
leaving
questions
He then
of domination,
aboutthe legitimation
power,and interests.46
movethatis at theheartof Carl Schmitt's
makestheverytheoretical
Conceptof thePolitical:he detaches"thepolitical"fromthenotionof
the stateand whathe calls officialpolitics,and thenplaysthepolitical
made
offagainstthe state.As ErnstVollrathhas pointedout,Schmitt
of conthismovein responseto a crisisin thepeculiarGermantradition
law doctrines
itsformalistic
stitutinal
[Staatsrechtslehre]
particularly
posits
but
without
itivism,
trulytranscending categoriesand its perception
Schmitthad deinstitutionalized
the politicalonlyto
of the political.47
thinkstateandthepoliticaltogether
means
ofdefining
again,by
(andcircularreasoning)
thestateas thepoliticalunitycapableof friend/enemy
At thesametime,however,
distinctions.
he hadmadetheconceptof the
43. PeterOsborne,"Times(Modern),Modernity
Noteson thePer(Conservative)?
sistenceofa TemporalMotif,"
NewFormations
28 (1996): 132.
44. UlrichBeck,Anthony
Modernization:
PoliGiddens,andScottLash,Reflexive
andAesthetics
intheModernSocial Order(Cambridge:
tics,Tradition
Polity,1994)vi.
45. Beck,"WorldRiskSocietyas Cosmopolitan
Society?EcologicalQuestionsina
Framework
ofManufactured
Culture& Society4 (1996): 11. See
Uncertainties,"
Theory,
also Beck,TheReinvention
ofthePolitical(Cambridge:
Polity,1996).
46. Beck,RiskSociety190-190.
47. Vollrath,
"Wie istCarlSchmitt
an seinenBegriff
des Politischen
gekommen?"
Zeitschrift
ffrPolitik36.2 (1989): 151-68.
164
availabletomovements
liketheNationalSocialists.
politicalfreely
Beck wantsto avoid bothSchmitt's&tatist
approachas well as any
in
the
an
of
either/or
logic.In fact,he identifies
constraining
political
differentiation
sucha movewiththefunctional
of subsystems
typicalof
Luhmann
with
Schmitt.48
thereby
associating
theory,
implicitly
systems
Beck insteadrelocates"thepolitical"in whathe calls "sub-politics,"
wouldhave calledthe"self-organization
of society."
and whatSchmitt
refersto thearenawherethepolitical,definedby Beck
"Sub-politics"
as large-scalesocial change,actuallytakesplace: economic-technologithenatural
cal development,
sciences,butalso privatelife.Latent,invisiratherthan
ble side effectsof economic-technological
development,
in
the
of
the
transformawill-formation
are
source
rational
parliaments,
Whilethiscritique
ofparliament
tivepowerof a radicalmodernity.49
is,
Beck suggeststhat
of course,also a classictropeof Schmittian
thought,
civilandparticipation
citizenscouldbecomecapawithincreased
rights,
can
ble of exertingpowerover subpolitical
processes.50
Sub-politics
and
a
thusbe botha BenjaminBarber-type
direct,
"strongdemocracy,"
whichcrucially
de-institutionalized,
non-legal
politics,
dependson medilikemodernity
can nowcomeintoits
atizedsymbols.Democracy,
itself,
in
a
manner.
This
claim
about
own
moreparticipatory
thepoliticalparallels Beck's overallclaimaboutthenatureof reflexive
modernization:
it
constitutes
a profound
transformation
of society,withoutany outward
revolutionary
change:Beck leaves the systemintact,but behindits
of the politicalsilentlyprofacade,the hollowingout [Entkernung]
ceeds.Thus,ratherlikeGross,Beck's BerlinRepublicwouldrepresent
the stateas make-believe:
behindthefacade,thepoliticalhas escaped
intosociety,sincesub-politics
meansshapingsocietyfrombelow.Thus,
thedifferentiation
of
process modernization
giveswayto one of de-difin which,ideally,politicsbecomesdecentralized
and open
ferentiation,
butwhilemakingroomfordecisions,
forwide-spread
decision-making:
thatdecisionsareopento
Beck wantsto avoiddecisionism,
byclaiming
thatBeck incorporates
Schmittian
48. It is noticeable,
however,
patterns
thought
ofmodernity
as a questfor
them:herepeatsSchmitt's
without
conception
acknowledging
a la Montaigne.See Beck,
butadds a scepticism
and depoliticizations,
neutralizations
derNeutralisierungen
undEntpoli"Das Zeitalter
263-68,and Carl Schmitt,
Erfindung
120-32.
tisierungen,"Positionenund BegriffeimKampfmit Weimar-Genf-Versailles
49.
Beck, RiskSociety 185-90.
50.
Schmittt,The Crisis of ParliamentaryDemocracy,trans.Ellen Kennedy (Cam-
bridge:MIT, 1985).
Jan Midller
165
andthatsub-politics
democratic
shouldbecomean arenain
negotiations
can constitute
whicha new politicalsubjectivity
The political,
itself.51
a revolution.
without
as itturns
out,canbe reinvented
Whatis needed,however,is whatBeck calls a "politicsof politics,"
thatis, a politicsthatchangestheveryrulesofpoliticsand at thesame
theshapeofthepolitical.Thispoliticsofpolitics,or,one
timecontrols
reflexive
mightsay,
politics,is at leastpartially
equivalentto Hannah
Arendt'sconception
of politics.WhileBeck does notmakeany civic
or evencivichumanistic
claims,he does describepoliticsas
republican
a realmof actionand freedom,
and predicts"thereturn
of individuals
LikeArendt,
intosociety."52
he rejectsa Marxistor functionalist
frameworkand emphasizesthescope of actionforindividuals.
Theircapacbutalso the
ityforcrossingtheironborderserectedby systems
theory,
forthemto cobbletogether
theirownbiographies,
is thesecimperative
ond majoraspectof Beck's overallthesisof "reflexive
modernization."
As theprophetof individuation,
Beck has hityetanotherraw cultural
this
time
of
a corporatist
in whichindithe
dissolution
nerve,
Germany,
vidualflexibility
andnumerous
solidGermantradiacquiresa premium
tionsmeltintoair. Beck's emphasison action,theindividual,
and the
art of the impossiblefitsintoa largerparadigmshift,in whichthe
social sciencesand historyplace greatervalue on individualaction
and on cultureratherthaneconomics.Arguably,
ratherthanstructure,
is a resultof boththesocial sciences'failureto prethisreorientation
dict 1989 as well as theculturalimpactof 1989,and thedesireof disenchanted
youngerscholarsto assertthemselves
againstsocial history
and systemstheory.53
[Gesellschaftsgeschichte]
his shareof criticism:

his flippant
Beck has of courseincurred
feuilleneverto resista bad pun,and his overalloptitonstyle,his tendency
mismmakehimlooklikea proponent
of "sociologylite."StefanBreuer
has notedthatBeck's theory,
withits emphasison "politicsas art,"is
suffused
withaestheticism.
Breuercalls it a "Marlborophilosophy,"
in
whichliberated
individuals
rideon horseback
intothesunsetof simple
modernization.54
More importantly,
one mightask whether
the whole
51. Beck,Erfindung,
157.
52. Beck,Erfindung
149.
53. See also Hans-Ulrich
zumHabitus,"Die Zeit25
Wehler,"Von derHerrschaft
Oct 1996.
54. StefanBreuerquotedby Wolf-Dieter
Politikund poliNarr,"Begriffslose
tikarme
ZusatzlicheNotizenzu Becks 'Erfindung
des Politischen',"Leviathan
Begriffe:
23.3 (1995): 437.
166
of the
modernization
appearsto be an extrapolation
theoryof reflexive
the
the
old
Federal
of
1980s:
Beck's
risk
sociof
Republic
experiences
rich
which
can
afford
the
kinds
of
that
he
is
also
a
anxieties
society,
ety
positsin orderto explaintheloss of faithin industrial
society,expert
politicalclass.Anditis verymuchtheexperiopinion,anda traditional
whichinforms
thenotion
ence of theGreens'and citizens'movements
thisis merelyanother
The questionarises,then,whether
of sub-politics.
oftentypicalof the
instanceof Germanapocalyptical
antimodernism,
socialtheorists?
Is it a sociology
Greensand,of course,older,romantic
ofAngst,so to speak?The answeris a resounding
yes and no,because
Beck, in a sense,has it bothways:thereis a critiqueof instrumental
of Horkheimer
in bleak,apocalyptical
tonesreminiscent
and
rationality
Adorno,even of WalterBenjamin,forinstancewhenBeck writesthat
butmorethanthat,a cat"therisksocietyis nota revolutionary
society,
astrophicsociety.In it, the state of emergencythreatensto become the
normalstate."55But Beck combinesthisapocalyptical

languagewith
theHabermasian
thehope of fulfilling
promisesof modernity
precisely
the verynegativism
of ecologicaldangers.56
and
Horkheimer
through
aim of enlightening
aboutitselfis
Adorno'snormative
Enlightenment
and,one wouldhope,empirically
generalized
grounded:
sociologically
is becomingmodernized,
modernization
half-modernity,
half-democracy
In one sense,thisis simplydialectical:thesysare becomingfulfilled.
temsof modemindustrial
societyproducetheirown dangers,i.e., their
In thesublation
humanism
and indiownnegation.
ofthiscontradiction,
But one mightask
vidual agency are miraculously
resurrected.57
the resourcefulness
of "simple
whetherBeck does not underestimate
histheory
andwhether
is notdrivenby thesamesearchfor
modernity,"
thetheorists
of a legitimation
crisisin
a "thirdway"thatonceanimated
latecapitalism.
Beckseemsto havesimplysubstituted
theecologicalcriof capitalism,and reassureddisillusioned
sis for the contradictions
Marxiststhat,even withthe facadesof officialpoliticsand industrial
revolutionary
changeis underway.58
societyintact,
of the politicalis also quesBeck's entirenotionof the invention
and relocationof the
tionable.It would seem thatBeck's definition
55.
Beck, Risk Society,78-79.
56. See also ThomasBlanke,"Zur Aktualitat

des Risikobegriffs:
Uberdie Konvonihr,"Leviathan18.1(1990): 134.
derWeltunddie Wissenschaft
struktion
UlrichBecks'Gegengifte',"
57. See also StefanBreuer,"Das EndederSicherheit.
Merkur
43.8 (1989): 710-15.
JanMiiller
167
too optimistic,
politicalare altogether
emphasizingthe creativeelementsof politicsat theexpenseof thecoerciveones. To overlookthe
ineradicablepresenceof violencein politicsqualifieshim forMax
Weber'schargethatwhoeverdeniesthispresenceis politicallyinfantile.59Moreover,while Beck does presentmanyill-definednotions
suchas "a new artof politics"and otherplayfullinguisticinventions,
the emergenceof the risk society,as predictedby Beck, impliesa
new kindof moralseriousness.This challengeof moralseriousness
- premightof course provokean emptygestureof resoluteness
decisionism
which
Beck
wants
to
avoid.
But
to
that
the
end,
cisely
Beck wouldhave to indicatesomenormative
guidelinesforhow individuals are to face the decision-making
process.Moreover,as much
fora moreparticias Beck wantsto providea sociologicalargument
of various
patorypolitics,he has littleto say aboutthe constitution
in
the
realm
of
And
as
much
as
thewhole
sub-politics.
publicspheres
of the experienceof
notionof sub-politicsis obviouslya reflection
of theWestGermanyof the
the Greensand thecitizens'movements
in
is
which
wouldpointto the conthere
little
Beck's
1980s,
theory
of politicalagencyin a worldwhere"thepolitical"
creteconstitution
This is the
seemsto be crushedby neoliberaleconomicimperatives.
notionof politicsand a heavydose of
instancein whichan Arendtian
empiricalsociologymightrescuethetheoryfromemptyvoluntarism
and fromillusionsabout the capacityof individualsto overcome
theassessmentof new risks.Conobstaclesto decide democratically
thepolitical,or
claim
to
have reinvented
Beck
can
hardly
sequently,
even to have produceda politicaltheoryat all. Still,he has made an
startin reconceptualizing
the autonomyof the political
interesting
or amoralin theway thattheautonomyof
whichis notauthoritarian
is. Moreover,Beck attempts
thepoliticaladvocatedby conservatives
a theorywhichdoes notnecessarily
privilegesocietyoverand above
the politicalin a way thatsociologistswould be expectedto do.60
58. Beckadmitsas muchina footnote.
See UlrichBeck,"VomVeraltensozialwissenschaftlicher
einerTheoriereflexiver
GesellBegriffe:
Grundziige
Modemisierung,"
kritischer
schaftim Obergang:Perspektiven
Soziologie,ed. Christoph
GOrg(Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche
1994)41.
Buchgesellschaft,
andVocationofPolitics,"Weber:PoliticalWrit59. Max Weber,"TheProfession
UP, 1994)309-69.
ings,eds.PeterLassmanandRonaldSpeirs(Cambridge:
Cambridge
60. See also Kari Palonen,"Die jtingste
des Politischen:
UlrichBeck's
Erfindung
als BeitragzurBegriffsgeschichte,"
Leviathan23. 3
'Neues W6rterbuch
des Politischen'
(1995): 417-36.
168
But it is still ironicthatthe returnof rehashedArendtianelements

shouldbe embeddedin a sociologicaltheory,
givenArendt'sattempt
to separatethesocialfromthepolitical.
A MoreRepublicanGermany?
have arguedfor a "Berlin spirit"that
Finally,some intellectuals
of the FederalRepublicas
achievements
drawson the constitutional
actionof East Germansin
well as the memoryof the revolutionary
are portrayed
as actingspontane1989. Here,theGDR revolutionaries
to
their
act
and
as
thereby
openously
politically,
experiencing capacity
For intellectuals
followingthis
perspectives.61
ing up new republican
thebelatednationcan finallyarriveon thebasis of the
interpretation,
freedom
and an act of mutualrecogof republican
commonexperience
of
the"greatachievement"
nition:WestGermanshaveto acknowledge
whileEast Germanshaveto recognizethe
theEast Germanrevolution,
On thebasis of sucha
of theold FederalRepublic.62
freeinstitutions
will
Berlin
be
the
Republic
self-recognition,
capableof copingwiththe
In
other
of
the
words,wherethe conservatives
political.
challenges
forthestate,therepublidemandself-consciousness
[SelbstbewuJftsein]
of therepublic.For
cans ask fora self-recognition
[Selbstanerkennung]
like Habermas
intellectuals
advocatesof a new Berlinrepublicanism,
and Grossremainthoroughly
caughtup in the experienceof the old
of theold FedRatherthanprojecting
thefeatures
FederalRepublic.63
of
eralRepublicontoBerlin,as Grossand Habermasdo, a recognition
the genuinelynew and a broadpublicdiscourseare required.In this
a posproject,Arendtis singledoutas a guidingspiritand as providing
In recentyears,Arendthas
sible answerforthemeaningof politics.64
in Germany.
her
beenthesubjectof a remarkable
renaissance
Although
remainsstillmorepopularin theUnitedStates,thereis now a
thought
forthe
of herpossibleimportance
and recognition
growingliterature
a
of Bremenestablished
BerlinRepublic.The cityand theUniversity
HannahArendtprizeforpoliticalthoughtin 1993,whichhas so far
von 1989 fiirdie
undRevolution:
Die Bedeutung
61. Bernward
Baule, "Freiheit
unddie Berliner
HannahArendt
Berliner
Fragenan das vereinigte
Republik:
Republik,"
Baule(Berlin:Aufbau,1996)86.
ed. Bernward
Deutschland,
HannahArendt
unddieBerliner
8.
62. Baule,"Einleitung,"
Republik
10.
63. Baule,"Einleitung,"
Hannah
64. For similarconcernsin Austria,see Sagen,was ist: Zur Aktualitdt
ed. UrsulaKubes-Hofmann
(Vienna:VerlagfirGesellschaftskritik,
1994).
Arendts,
JanMfiller
169
beenawardedto AgnesHellerand FrancoisFuret.65

Some of theintelGreenpolicies,
lectualsassociatedwiththeprizehavetriedto influence
in a morerepublican
democracy[Basisdemokratie]
shifting
grassroots
in Dresdirection.
Moreover,thereis now a HannahArendtInstitute
ontotalitarianism.
research
den,whichmainlysponsors
Arendt'spoliticaltheoryis takenup fortwo reasonsin particular:
withArendt'stheories,bothas a historical
first,1989 is interpreted
momentin which non-violent
revolutionaries
spontaneously
brought
whatArendtcalled "natalaboutsomething
new,experiencing
entirely
thepowertheycouldconexperienced
ity."66The GDR revolutionaries
stituteby acting together,their capacityfor responsiblepolitical
judgmentand action,and the feelingof publichappinesswhichgoes
and to
alongwithit; finally,
theyrealizedwhatit meantto constitute
movein a publicspace.In an Arendtian
viewofunification,
thisexperienceofpoliticswas crowdedoutbythesocial,justas theFrenchRevoandultimately
lutionwas distorted
destroyed
bypeople's"realwants."67
Whilein Germany
therewas no effort
to "solvethesocialquestionsby
no terror,
itstillremains
truethatno conpoliticalmeans,"andtherefore
or
in
eitherat thenationallevel
Germantownhall
stitutional
discussion,
can only
someArendtians
meetingstookplace.68Giventhesedeficits,
of politics
1989 overtimewillkeepthisexperience
hopethatnarrating
can be strengthened
alive,andthatspacesforpoliticalactionas freedom
oftheBerlinRepublic.
framework
within
theinstitutional
meanta radical
On anotherlevel,Arendt'sclaimthattotalitarianism
is
and
the
Western
tradition
breakin historical
continuity
philosophical
of
appliedto 1989 in reverse.In otherwords,Arendt,as the theorist
is viewedas offering
a way out of the historicalcategories
natality,
fromthenineteenth
and
suchas progressand processinherited
century
Arendt'scategoriesare mobilizedagainstthose
the Enlightenment.
who respondto the radicallynew, the greatcaesura of
intellectuals
andstrategies
ofnationalism
and geo1989,withthefamiliar
categories
on
and
on
left.69
the
antifascism
the
politics
right,
is mobilizedagainsta neoliberalpolitics
Finally,Arendtian
thought
whichentirely
itself
with
economicconstraints
and"thesocial."
occupies
on theHannahArendtAssociationforPoliticalThought,see
65. For infomation
http://zfn.alf.uni-bremen.de/blaha/verein.html.
66. Arendt,
TheHumanCondition
(Chicago:ChicagoUP, 1989) 176-78.
67. Arendt,
On Revolution
(NewYork:Penguin,1990) 109.
112.
68. Arendt,
On Revolution
"'Machtkommt
vonm6glich...'," Einschnitte
83.
69. AntoniaGrunenberg,
170
But at a timewhenmoreand morepeopleare involuntarily

freedfrom
of labor,Arendt
is reproached
fornothavingrealizedthatin
theburdens
modemdemocracies,
thejob constitutes
the underpinnings
fordemoto
the
answer
the
craticcitizenship.
has to be
Thus,
present
predicament
in
of
the
realm
"the
social"
first.
Traditional
criticisms
of
Arendt
sought
as an elitist"aristocratic
liberal,"who ignoredbothsocial equalityand
of freedom,
the institutionalization
are rearticulated,
howoverlooking,
ever,thatthequestionof howto deal with"thesocial"is itselfagaina
to theimportance
didpayattention
of
politicalquestionand thatArendt
a
as
manifestations
of
On
more
fundameninstitutions
power.70
political
withnostalgiafortheGreeks
tal level,Arendtis yetagainreproached
the"differentiation
andforignoring
gains"ofmodernity.71
constellation
be a genuinely
newdeparture
for
Butcouldthepost-1989
an elitist
herforbeinga coldwarrior,
theleft?Afterthelefthadshunned
of Arendtnow
does a rediscovery
and a philosophical
anthropologist,
for
a
renewal
of
an
resources
emancipatory
project?72
providerepublican
As in theworkof Habermasand
The answercan hardlybe affirmative.
is shornof itsmoreradicalelements,
and
Beck,Arendt'srepublicanism
notmuchmoreremains
thana classicalHabermasian
call formorepolitiof opinions,
Heremphasison a humanplurality
cal participation.
on the
ofpolitical
andon thepowerofnarrative
arealluded
formation
judgment
fora morerepublican
to,buthardlyexploredin theirmeaning
Germany.
On theotherhand,thedangerthata republicanism
of virtuemightpose
is hardlydiscussedat all. Thus,therelationship
betweenArendtand the
of
leftremains
a
rendezvous
largely history
manques.
Moreover,the right'sreactionto Beck,the Bremengroup,and the
contributors
to Baule's bookhas beensomewhat
In a recent
predictable.
issue of Merkur,
JanRoss has appealedto ErnstForsthoff's
critiqueof
the old FederalRepublicto reassertthe authority
of the state,and
defendedthestateas protecting
traditions
and individuality
againstthe
70.
HeroderDie neoliberale
Wolfgang
Engler,"Berliner
Republikin Bedrdingnis
ausforderungdes politischenLiberalismus,Hannah Arendt und die Berliner Republik
"MitArendt
OffeneFragenan das
Arendt
hinausdenken:
Uiber
184-87;OttoKallscheuer,
neue Deutschlandund die europaiischeZukunft,"Hannah Arendtund die BerlinerRepub-
lik 205, and MichaelTh. Greven,"HannahArendt-
der
Pluralititund Griindung
des Politischen82-83.
Freiheit,"Die Zukunft
71. See in particularHauke Brunkhorst,
Demokratie und Differenz:Vom klassischen zum modernenBegriffdesPolitischen(Frankfurt/Main:
Fischer,1994).
72. See Vollrath,"HannahArendtbei den Linken"9-10, and Greven,"Hannah

- Pluralitit
Arendt
undGrOndung
derFreiheit"
88-89.
JanMfiller
171
whichonlyleaves fungible,
atomizedindividuBeckianindividuation
als.73As theBerlinRepublicapproaches,
fromthe
then,tameinitiatives
conservative
from
the
old
claims
Federal
leftareanswered
Republic.
by
Turn:NeitherLeftnorRight?
TheAnthropological
PeterSloterdijk,
andBothoStrauBremain
Hans MagnusEnzensberger,
in an intellectual
thinkers
some of themorenon-conformist
milieustill
withfriend/enemy
However,in thename
thinking.
verymuchsuffused
of politics,theseintellectuals
have assertedanthropological
and thereterms,
fore,in Arendtian
apoliticalclaimsagainstthenotionof "normal"
in Yugoslaviaor on the
whether
politics.In thefaceof violentconflict,
less thanreducethepolitical
streetsof Rostock,theyhavedonenothing
to the anthropological.
StrauB,in his infamous
piece "Anschwellender
clarion
for
sounded
the
call
the
New
Bocksgesang,"
Rightby mixing
witha cultural
Girardian
oftheFederalRepublic.74
anthropology
critique
wentrightback
Enzensberger,
alwaysa whiskeraheadof theZeitgeist,
to the unstableanthropological
constitution
of homosapiensand prein his slim volumeIm selben
dicteda global civil war.75Sloterdijk,
tellsa three-phased,
Boot: Versuchiiberdie Hyperpolitik,
psychopolitical
in whichhe distinguishes
betweenpaleopolitics,
storyof humankind,
is simply
classicalpolitics,and thecominghyperpolitics.76
Paleopolitics
in a plurality
of primalhordes
the miracleof humanself-reproduction
In classicalpolitics,thepolis and then
whichact likeextended
families.
thenation-state
to act likea hordewritlarge,likea giantsocial
pretend
allow forall sortsof refinement
uterus.But whiletheselargerentities
thereproduction
of humankind
is ensuredby
foundedupondomination,
of thehordeculture.
theremnants
Now,witha movetowardevenlarger
whichrequiremoresophisticated
entities
and demanding
formsof social
new
kinds
of
socialization
and
are needed
cohesion,
"politicaltraining"
tomakeup forman's"anthropological
insufficiencies."77
73. JanRoss, "Staatsfeindschaft:
zum neuenVulgarliberalismus,"
Anmerkungen
Merkur
51.2 (1997): 93-194.
74. Botho StrauB,"Anschwellender
Nation:
Bocksgesang,"Die Selbstbewuf3te
'Anschwellender
Debatte,eds.
Bocksgesang'und weitereBeitrdgezu einerdeutschen
HeimoSchwilkandUlrichSchacht(Frankfurt/Main:
Ullstein,1994) 19-40.
75. Hans MagnusEnzensberger,
Civil Wars:FromL.A. to Bosnia (New York:
New, 1994).
76. PeterSloterdijk,
Im selbenBoot: Versuchiiberdie Hyperpolitik
(Frankfurt/
Main:Suhrkamp,
1993).
77. Sloterdijk
54.
172
Preparing
forthePolitical
predictsa revengeof the individualand the local against

Sloterdijk
in thewake
theglobal,and a new wave of "conservative
revolutions"
To
in
survive
the
of
of "post-political
age
panics."78
hyperpolitics,
therelationfullyinsularpeoplehaveto findnew waysto reconfigure
allow
for
that
bothregeneration
ship betweenthe smallcommunities
and theglobal.If theywantto avoid beingliterally
and reproduction,
last men,humanbeingshave to recreatea social uterusand a horde
needs to be the
whichallows themto reproduce.
Thus,hyperpolitics
ofpaleopolitics
withothermeans.
continuation
and Sloterdijk
turnby StrauBl,
are
The anthropological
Enzensberger,
in
of
The
tradition
German
without
not
history. peculiar
philoprecedent
in the 1920s,whenit was associated
flourished
sophicalanthropology
about
mainlywithHelmuthPlessnerand Max Scheler.The argument
reiterated
Arnold
was
most
prominently
by
insufficiency
anthropological
Butwhattherecent
commentators
Gehlen.79
agreeon is thathomo
mostly
Once
said it
vulnerable
is
a
again,Schmitt
being.
dangerous
yet
sapiens
the
In theConceptofthePolitical,Schmitt
first:
gave "disquieting
diagnomanto be evil,i.e.,byno
sis thatall genuinepoliticaltheories
presuppose
but a dangerousand dynamicbeing."80The
meansan unproblematic
ina sensetheleastpolititheleastvisionary,
turnremains
anthropological
anda
here.It offers
at besta reminder
cal of all theapproaches
surveyed
withan ethicsof conviction
andintellectuals
to utopianpacifists
warning
oftheold FederalRepublic- whosenumber
has in
[Gesinnungsethiker]
War
the
and
after
Bosnia.
decreased
after
Gulf
case
any
substantially
BetweenSchmitt
andArendt:TamingthePolitical
As the BerlinRepublicapproaches,Germanintellectuals
not only
fortheBerlinRepubengagein a discoursethataimsto be foundational
themeaningofwhatis to countas the
lic (and Europe),butalso contest
of the politicalper se. Not surprisingly,
mostintellectuals
foundation
the BerlinRepublicand thepolitical,situatethemselves
who confront
and Hannah
vis-a-vistheclassicthinkers
of thepolitical,Carl Schmitt
Carl
Schmitt
is
In thecase of left-wing
Arendt.
intellectuals,
usuallycast
the case withHabermas
in therole of betenoire.This is particularly
78.
57-58.
Sloterdijk
79.
ArnoldGehlen,Man: His Natureand Place in the World,trans.Clare McMillan
80.
Schmitt,ConceptofthePolitical 61.
andKarlPillemer
(NewYork:ColumbiaUP, 1988).
JanMiller
173
one mightsay,negatively
on Schmitt.
In his recent
whoremains,
fixated
turnto legal and politicaltheory,
just as muchas in his earlywritings,
is usuallysetup as theone opponent
mostworthy
of a lengthy
Schmitt
refutation.81
On theotherhand,thereremaina numberof self-declared
who adopthis decisionismand his theoryof the
leftistSchmittians
state.82Moreover,the politicalanthropology
proposedby Strauss,
reverts
to a Schmittian
and,to a lesserextent,
Enzensberger,
Sloterdijk,
view of humankind,
of
leaves
no
which, course,
politicalspace in an
Arendtiansense. In conservative
Schmittis presentin
contributions,
the critiqueof a self-organizing
concerning
major arguments
society
thestate,a foreign
usurping
policywhichfailsto takeaccountofineradiand anyattitude
cable conflict,
whichdeniesthatpoliticsis fundamenabout
and
friends
enemies.
is onlyacknowledged
tally
Mostly,Schmitt
at themargins.
It is likelythatwitha further
ofthewelfare
retrenchment
a
of
and
reassertion
the
of
state
as
the
state,
provider security, arguments
of Schmitt
and his pupilForsthoff
will be heardrepeatedly.
Moreover,
in Schmitt
is partof a largerwave of interest
interest
in theconstitutheWeimarRepublic,
tionalthought
whichis perceived
as a laboduring
of different
ratoryof the political,and particularly
conceptionsof
politicalunity[Einheit].83
Somepoliticalscientists
arguethatthecountryis facinga situation,
which,in termsof sheerpoliticalopenness,
has
is perceived
as themostpressing
notexistedsincethe1920s.Integration
of unificaday.Thisis obviouslya consequence
problemof thepresent
tionand theinternal
unitywhichhas yetto be realized.But it is also a
withthe
openingup in WestGermany
responseto theriftsand conflicts
ofthewelfarestate,generational
retrenchment
change,andglobalization.
a
The 1920sare takenup as a periodduringwhich,at leastin thought,
number
of
of
were
out.84
unity
played
conceptions political
great
On the otherhand,a numberof left-wing
have triedto
intellectuals
81. See, forinstance,
Die Einbeziehung
desAnderen
226-36and160-71.
Habermas,
82. On theissueofleftist
see Hermann
liberal
Schmittianism,
Liibbe,"CarlSchmitt
'Posi427-40;Manfred
Lauermann,
rezipiert,"
ComplexioOppositorum
"Begriffsmagie.
- Bemerkungen
tionenundBegriffe'als Kontinuitatsbehauptung
derNeuauanliB3lich
desPolitischen:
CarlSchmitts
flage1988,"Die Autonomie
Kampfumeinenbeschddigten
ed. Hans-GeorgFlickinger
(Berlin:Acta humaniora,
1990) 97-127;thedebate
Begriff,
betweenEllen Kennedy,UlrichK. PreuB3,
MartinJayand AlfonsSllner in Telos 71
oftheFrankbetweenSchmitt
andthelegaltheorists
(Spring1987);andtherelationship
furt
BetweentheNormandtheException:TheFrankfurt
School,WilliamE. Scheuerman,
Schooland theRuleofLaw (Cambridge:
MIT, 1994).
83. DirkvanLaak,"Einleitende
desPolitischen
10.
Bemerkungen,"
Metamorphosen
13.
84. vanLaak,"Einleitende
Bemerkungen"
174
recoverHannahArendt'srepublicanism
for the new polity,building
on civilsociety,
on whatis perceived
as the
partly
partlyon theliterature
foundations
of Habermas'stheoryof communicative
alreadyArendtian
to thenew
action.Arendt'srepublicanism
is seenas a possibleantidote
wave ofnationalism
andto thegeneral"erosionofthepolitical,"
butalso
inthewakeoftheexhaustion
ofutopian
as a newperspective
energies.85
Thispolarization
betweenSchmitt
and Arendt
has to do withthefact
or an Arendtian
that1989can be givena Schmittian
reading:translated
intothetermsof Schmitt's
1989
was a miracle,and
politicaltheology,
a "challengeof the exception."86
In Schmittian
constituconstituted
1989 meantthatsovereignty
in East Europeanstates
tionalthought,
was reconstituted
itself.87
But it
by thepouvoirconstituant
reasserting
can also be read as the beginningof ethno-nationalist
enmity,of a
of
and
an
ultimate
friend/enemy
logic
shrinking politicalspace in the
in
other
Arendtian
sense.Schmitt,
words,becomestheprophetof eththe periodin whichman, that
nic cleansing,and post-communism
"dynamicand dangerousbeing,"is no longerheld in check by an
of
state. On an Arendtian
authoritarian
note,thepeacefulrevolutions
in
1989 symbolizeordinary
concert,
acting
generating
power,
people
and constitution-making
no less
and engagingin an act of founding
thantheAmericanone Arendtdescribedin On Revolution.
momentous
willof thepeople
Pace theSchmittian
of a homogeneous
interpretation
were
a
"the
of
itself,
asserting
people"
plurality citizens'groupsgatheredat theRoundTable.89Thissubstitution
ofpluraland self-reflexive
forunitarypopularsovereignty
enabledthe revolutionaries
to avoid
what Arendtdescribedas "the problemof the absolute,"and ultimately,the logic of friend/enemy
thinking,
politicaljustice,and the
civil war.90Moreover,1989
unleashingof violencein revolutionary
was a spontaneous
momentwhenindividuals
reasserted
thepowerto
set a newbeginning.
It also confirmed
Arendt'sadvice"to be prepared
forandtoexpect'miracles'inthepoliticalrealm."91
85.
86.
PeterKemper,"Vorwort,"Die Zukunftdes Politischen7-12.

Schmitt,Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty,
89.
See Ulrich K. PreuB,Revolution,Fortschrittund Verfassung.:

Zu einem neuen
90.
91.
Arendt,On Revolution158-59 and 202-14.

Arendt,BetweenPast and Future 170.
trans.GeorgeSchwab(1922;Cambridge:
MIT, 1985).
87. Schmitt,
(1928;Berlin:Duncker& Humblot,
1970)51.
Verfassungslehre
227.
88. Beck,Die Erfindung
Fischer,1994)84-88.
(Frankfurt/Main:
Vefassungsverstdndnis
Jan Miller
175
It is no accident,
debatecoincideswitha major
then,thatthecurrent
on bothSchmitt
and Arendt,
renaissance
of scholarship
and thatthese
are
sometimes
as "politicalexistentialists,"
twotheorists,
lumpedtogether
or unconsciously
instrumentalized
forthenew foundational
consciously
discourse.The question,however,is whetherany of the intellectuals
andArendtian
withSchmittian
thought
actuallypursuethetwo
engaging
theorists
on theirmoreradicalclaims.Schmitt's
followers
emphasizethe
in
and
Hobbesian
elements
his
butnotin
etatist,
thought,
agonal, broadly
WestGermanconservaa waywhichdeviatessignificantly
frompostwar
to translate
one couldthinkthat
tism.Wereit notso difficult
Oakeshott,
Britishfolconservatives
might
just as well havetakenup theforemost
In so faras Schmitt's
lowerof Hobbesin thetwentieth
theories
century.
arerevived,
itis also reducedto
ofgreatgeopolitical
spaces[Grof3rdume]
a "realist"readingwhichcouldas easilybe foundin Kissingeror Huntington.92
right-wing
figures,
nobodyis willingto
Apartfrommarginal
resuscitate
Schmitt's
the
radical
vitalist
and authoritarpoliticaltheology,
ian elements
of his constitutional
or
his
thought,
emphasison substantial
RomanCatholicism
let alone his idiosyncratic
withhis
homogeneity,
intheBiblicalfigure
oftheKatechon.93
peculiarfaith
wanta BerIn a way,thesameholdstrueforArendt.Her followers
but hardlymake any
lin Republicwhichis actuallymorerepublican,
in couna radicalpoliticaldecentralization
claimsforcivichumanism,
eleof
continuous
action.
The
or
an
institutionalization
cils,
political
and
the
mentthatboththe consensus-oriented
Habermas
republicanmindedArendt-disciples
overlook,it seems,is heremphasison pluralandArendtfollowers,
whileremaining
bothSchmitt
ity.Thus,arguably
failto see thepotentialfor
in a broadlyliberal-democratic
framework,
polity.
makingtheBerlinRepublicaboveall a moreliberaland tolerant
in
or
is
about
the
Schmitt
tame
whatever
radical
Arendt,
political
They
as themost
observers
butdo notengagewithwhatoftenstrikes
foreign
obviousquestionaboutGermanpoliticalculture:couldtherebe a more
civic,liberalinthesenseoftolerant,
Germany?94
heterogeneous,
92. ErichVad, StrategieundSicherheitspolitik:
im Werkvon Carl
Perspektiven
Schmitt
(Opladen:Westdeutscher,
1996).
93. On Schmitt's
oftheKatechon,
Der
see Giinter
Meuter,
private
politicaltheology
Katechon:Zu Carl Schmitts
Kritikder Zeit (Berlin:Duncker&
fundamentalistischer
VierKapitelzurUnterscHumblot,1994);andHeinrich
Meier,Die LehreCarlSchmitts:
Politischer
Metzler,1994).
heidung
TheologieundPolitischer
Philosophie
(Stuttgart:
94. See forinstanceCharlesS. Maier,Dissolution:TheCrisisof Communism
and
theEndofEast Germany
Princeton
UP, 1997)334.
(Princeton:
176
nottooverestimate
theimpactofevenan attenuFinally,itis important
or Schmittianism
on "politics"understood
in tradiated Arendtianism
Therecanbe no one-to-one
tionaltermsas theold partysystem.
mapping
of theseideologiesontothepoliticalcleavagesof present-day
Germany,
can anylastingpoliticalforcebe attributed
to them,as long
and neither
to thefailureof theNew
as no significant
partyadoptsthem.Returning
theirinability
tocapture
a partyRight,onemight
saythatitwasprecisely
in
this
case
the
which
their
doomed
effort
to
estabFDP,
vehicle,
political
exercise
influence
cultural
and
on
lisha right-wing
hegemony
policy.
havelaid outtwofuture
visionsof thepolity:an
Germanintellectuals
to Schmitt,
thattakestheregaining
of sovereignty
in
&tatist
one,indebted
andenvisions
theBerlinRepublicas morepolitical
1990as foundational
outsideand a
in the sense of a sovereign
pursuitof nationalinterests
a moreactivecivilsocietywithin;theothera republistateconfronting
of 1989arekeptalive,civilsocietyvalocan one,in whichthememories
is
dealtwithin Europeanfederated
and
rized, foreign
policy increasingly
In
Arendt
also
structures
favored). a sense,bothvisionspresume
(which
bothvisionscan
thatnew spacesforactionare opening.Consequently,
thatprimarily
a current
consistsof
be seenas countering
publicdiscourse
neoliberal
economicandtechnocratic
necessities,
pieties,andtheneedto
In thatsense,theysetthepowerofpoliticsagainst
adaptto globalization.
of objectiverelations
der
whatMusil calledthedomination
[Herrschaft
On
the
a
more
Arendtian
pessimistic
reading,
Sachzusammenhdnge].
momentis a fleeting
one,and Beck and theArendtians
merelyproject
thedevelopments
leadingup to 1989onto1999,whenin factthefuture
A thirdpossibility
of
remains,
belongsto overtand covertSchmittians.
that
neither
embarks
an
on
Arendtian
advencourse,namely
Germany
Schmittian
ture,norfollowsa moresinister
course,butsimplycontinues
to be as generally
stable,consensus-oriented,
and,so to speak,thankfully
as ithas in factbeensince1989.Thus,itmightwellbe truethat
boring,
Die Politik ist das Schicksal,but the fate of the political in its friend/
versionmightwellbe sealedby thefactthatmost

enemy,or republican
still
toa "culture
ofrestraint
andreticence,"
desireneiGermans, clinging
ofmeaning[Sinngethera moreauthoritarian
statenora publicprovision
but maybe
bung] throughpoliticalaction.95It mightbe unexciting,
thepolitical.
politicscanandshoulddo without
95. AndreiS. Markovitsand Simon Reich, The GermanPredicament:Memoryand

Power in theNew Europe (Ithaca: CornellUP, 1997) xiii.

Preparing For The Political German Intellectuals Confront The Berlin Republic

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Preparing For The Political German Intellectuals Confront The Berlin Republic

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Duke University Press

New German Critique

and the finalmove of

- or rather,notorious- by Carl Schmitt's1927 book The Concept of

tutionallaw doctrines[AllgemeineStaatsrechtslehre]it was equivalent

couldstillwritethat"in theconceptof the

See Kari Palonen,Politikals

Andreas Anter,Max WebersTheoriedes modernenStaates: Herkunft,

Schmitt,Concept of thePolitical 19.

and being"apolitical"beforeand duringunification.

the suspicionremainsthata deinstitutionalized

Affairs76. 2 (1997): 152-61.

enablingtherightto cooptleftistideas and

In a recent article in the Frankfurter

directedtowardsthe futureGerRitterassertedthat"the expectation

sal] actuallyturnedout to be true.Ritteralso arguedthatBonn had

withregardto botha newroleforGermany

JohannesGross,Begriindungder BerlinerRepublik:Deutschland am Ende des

Gross soundsa call forGermanyto face the realityof

In thisreading,thestateneedsa new formof representation

Habermas,Die Normalitdteiner BerlinerRepublik:Kleine Politische Schriften

Risk Society: Towardsa New Modernitywas fortuitously

his shareof criticism:

normalstate."55But Beck combinesthisapocalyptical

Beck, Risk Society,78-79.

56. See also ThomasBlanke,"Zur Aktualitat

But it is still ironicthatthe returnof rehashedArendtianelements

beenawardedto AgnesHellerand FrancoisFuret.65

But at a timewhenmoreand morepeopleare involuntarily

ausforderungdes politischenLiberalismus,Hannah Arendt und die Berliner Republik

neue Deutschlandund die europaiischeZukunft,"Hannah Arendtund die BerlinerRepub-

lik 205, and MichaelTh. Greven,"HannahArendt-

72. See Vollrath,"HannahArendtbei den Linken"9-10, and Greven,"Hannah

predictsa revengeof the individualand the local against

ArnoldGehlen,Man: His Natureand Place in the World,trans.Clare McMillan

PeterKemper,"Vorwort,"Die Zukunftdes Politischen7-12.

See Ulrich K. PreuB,Revolution,Fortschrittund Verfassung.:

Arendt,On Revolution158-59 and 202-14.

versionmightwellbe sealedby thefactthatmost

95. AndreiS. Markovitsand Simon Reich, The GermanPredicament:Memoryand

You might also like