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The European Law of the Enemy (LAW-DS-LAWENE-25)

LAW-DS-LAWENE-25

Description

The concept of the enemy has recently re-emerged in Europe. Public life is filled with speeches, statements and rallying cries referring to “external enemies”, “enemies from within”, “existential” or “ordinary” enemies. This is in a context of extreme polarization of most social, political and geopolitical relations in European societies and beyond.
In political theory and legal thought, the concept is traditionally associated to Carl Schmitt’s writings. Does this concept help us capture the novelty of our situation in Europe? Are we living a sort of ‘Schmittian moment’ in today’s Europe? Is this concept making its way into the laws of Europe? Schmitt's concept seems both indispensable and inappropriate for grasping the reality and evolution of Europe and its laws.
This short seminar will be an attempt to do three things at once:
i) explore cases of ‘enemization’ of law, in different domestic contexts and in relation to social groups as diverse as Muslims, migrants, eco-activists, social deviants, and foreign economic or political actors;
ii) inquire into the concept of the enemy, its normative presuppositions and its socio-historical context of emergence and re-emergence; and
iii) reflect on forms of resistance and alternatives to the enemization of European society and its law

Course reading list: https://readinglist.eui.eu/leganto/public/39EUI_INST/lists/2977862500008406?auth=SAML&idpCode=SAML_LEGANTO

First, Second & Third Term: registration from 22 to 26 September 2025.

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