Carl Schmitt: the Concept of the Political

Carl Schmitt the Concept of the PoliticalThe tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the reconcile of emergency in which we pop off is non the ejection exactly the practice. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we sh entirely clearly adopt that it is our task to bring about a real solid ground of emergency (Benjamin 1999248)The pinnacle of great governance is the moment in which the enemy move intos into view in cover clarity as the enemy.(Schmitt 19631)The purity of plemos or the enemy, w here(predicate)by Schmitt would define thepolitical, remains unattainable no politics has ever been adequate toits concept.(Derrida 1997114)I Why Hegel DiedSchmitt begins Staat, Bewegung, Volk by stating that with the rise of the Nazi regime, Hegel died. By this, he did non mean that Ger homosexual Idealist philosophy had died, nor that the idea of the German argona had died, far from it. quite an, Schmitt identified Hegelwith the a uthorisationcratic class of the Bourgeois Hegel died when the bureaucratic estate was no longer a opening move, and the quantity or pure state emerged as a possibility.It is this attempt to find a pure politics upon which to base the attack community that characterises Schmitts work. Der Bergriff desPolitischen (1963) is a vital text for Schmitts argument. In it, he lays out his inwrought distinction between adept and enemy that hebelieves is the comment of politics. From this basic antagonism,Schmitt argues for a total state, which burn provide the obedience and earnest that liberal contractualist theories be unable to offer. Thistotal state allows the enemy to come into view in concrete clarity.Thus, the total state for Schmitt offers the transmutation of the enemy friend affinity in the state of temper into the politics ofthe total state, where the sovereign send a manner command the federal agency over lifeand the power to name the enemy. It is hardly much(prenom inal) a state, Schmittargues, that sess resurrect the political from the morbid repetition ofthe bourgeois whole a total state can make clear the personality of sovereignty as an exclusion.This try on trust analyse how Schmitts guess evolved in the historical background of the Weimar republic. It go out lay out Schmitts reappraisal of bourgeois thought in the context of the Nietzscheanleitmotif chthoniclying many of the thinkers (Jnger, Spengler) of theperiod. It will then explain how Schmitt attempts to finalize thisproblem by using Hobbes to rethink the tactile sensation of the political, and byrelying on the state of exception to guarantee the power of the law.What is noticeable immediately is the extent to which scholars of the left handuse Schmitt. When Schmitt republished Der Bergriff in 1963, it was inan intellectual temper dominated by the Frankfurt school and theirreinterpretation of Marx. However, contrary to appearances andSchmitts intention, his work s h argons many characteristics with Adornoboth attack the notion of Enlightenment reason both befool reason as ableto co- populate with myth (though for Schmitt this is positive, for Adornocatastrophic). What is instructive about this convergence is the degreeto which what separated the thinkers of the Left from Schmitt is amatter of degrees. This issue will be explored further in this es speculate.This essay will argue that Schmitt makes a number of pertinent critiques of democracy, and that his theory of sovereignty is a powerful and subtle account of the exercise of political power. However, Schmitts theory in Der Bergriff is fundamentally incoherenton a number of counts. As Derrida notes at the start of the essay,Schmitts concept of the political is unobtainable, it is structurallyanalogous to the concept of redemption in Christianity it can onlyever occur in the future when bespeakd in the present utterance ofspeech. That he has created a pure concept of the political is not only immensely politically unsound, divorcing as it does the notion ofpolitics from the notion of the good life that we find in politicalphilosophy since Aristotle, it is theoretically suspect. Schmitt basesthe entire of his political theory on an aestheticisation of fero urban center,which is not born out by the phenomenological experience of violence,and misunderstands the relationship between sovereignty and the social world.That his concept of politics is unobtainable is tacitly admitted bySchmitt (1996) in The Leviathan in the State Theory of doubting Thomas HobbesMeaning and ruin of a Political Symbol. This work is written at theh viii of Nazi power, and yet Schmitt reverses his earlier claim about the relationship between the state of exception and the total state.This concur could be jawn as the epitaph to the argument between Schmittand Benjamin ( beforehand Benjamin fled Germany to die at the Spanishb exhibition) on the notion of the state of exception. In the quote fr om Benjamin that begins this essay he uses a distinction between a realand a fake state of emergency what he understands is that the use of aconstant state of emergency is where the possibility of a relation between law and that state collapses. Sadly, Schmitt ca-cad this too late.II Was God a Bureaucrat?If there is today still no deprivation of those who do not k direct howindecent it is to believeor a sign of decadence, of a broken willto livewell, they will know it tomorrow. (Nietzsche 19903)Schmitt highly-developed most of his ideas in the shadow of the Weimarrepublic, a democracy struggling without an armed forced and without aclear government. In this period, many conservative thinkers lookedback to a time when man used to con entrap God underwriting divine rule. Inthis Mythischer Traum (mystical dream), sovereignty was defined bytranscendence. Thus, it was a sphere separated off from the rest oflife sovereignty was not a matter for discussion and popular will, itwas the l aw. Conservatives in Germany at the time thought many of theproblems of the Weimar Republic could be understood as a result of asecularisation that placed man at the centre of the world, and thusturned the idea of sovereignty as an exception to life into an idea ofpopular will in Schmitts terms, transcendence is sacrificed to immanence.In this critique, thinkers the likes of Schmitt borrow a lot fromNietzsches critique of the herd mindset of the bourgeois. They seekto rediscover the will, and like Nietzsche in the quote that startedthis section, await the day when population will know their will is beingsapped. One should not believe (a matter of feel and internalchoice) rather, mavin should obey. It is the liberal idea of belief thatthey see as central to an age of neutralisations and depoliticisations(to use Schmitts terms). In this age, politics fails to turn in a spherefor itself exclusively is degraded by otherwise contexts like morality andeconomics that fail to underst and the absolute nature of sovereigntyand so fail to offer a solution to the state. Thus, Schmitt can see inthe fractured nature of the Weimar Republic a concept of the politicalthat fails to offer people what they require (security and obedience)and threatens to fall back into the civil war of the state of nature.Primarily creditworthy for this is a liberal bourgeoisie that hasplaced government in the hands of a bureaucracy that depoliticises thesphere of government. The bourgeoisie, Schmitt (1985a 15) claims, isa discussing class that, wanting to evade the finaleand shift all political activity onto the plane of conversation. Thus forSchmitt, the bourgeoisie avoid the importance of the decision of theauthentic act of politics. They encroach on sovereignty and (ibid 44)aim with undeniable conclusion as subjecting the state and politics toan individualistic, and thus private legal morality, partly to economiccategories and thus robbing it of its specific meaning. Thus,Bureaucra cy tries to dilute the power of the state with individualismand thus creates a state unable to carry out its functions effectively.Schmitts dislike here of private legal morality is linked to hisdislike of the idea of the state allowing its citizens any autonomy itis here that Schmitt breaks with Hobbes, as we shall see later. ForSchmitt, bureaucracy functions in terms of fixed procedures and therule such(prenominal) procedures will never encompass the central element ofsovereignty, and will sap mans inspirit by being inauthentic to the truepolitical concept (which is the friend enemy distinction).In opposition to such app arnt decadence, Schmitt postulateautochthonous decision. He argues that the bourgeoisie has sapped good German Lebensphilosophie, in an analogous path to the way thebureaucracy saps the notion of the political. He is in agreement withthinkers such as Spengler when they make a vitalist critique of thebourgeoisie. However, for Schmitt this critique as well follo ws from hiswork on sovereignty. Already in Law and Judgment 1912 (see191414ff.1) he noted that one cannot understand the legal straddle inrational terms alone, as a bureaucrat might understand the law in termsof legal precedent. Schmitt announces that the actual decision (whichmight change the precedent) is always an irreversible particularity.Here Schmitt take externals attention to a fundamental distinction in his workthat is little remarked upon that between constitutive andconstituting power. For Schmitt, power must always be understood interms of its possible constituting function attempts that place powerwithin the realm of conventional constituted power (e.g. a set legalorder) miss the fundamental aspect of law and of power. Thus, Schmittremarks on bureaucratic interpretations of law (1985a 71) allrationalist interpretation falsifies the immediacy of life.III The Failure of German DemocracyThe increasing un genuinety and chaos in the Weimar republic led manyto fear a comm unist revolution. In a true Schmittean spirit (the enemy of my enemy is my friend), the climate of the Weimar republic brought to apprehendher the conservative revolutionaries with the Nazis. Fearingcommunism, which for Schmitt would be the triumph of the non-politicalsphere (class), and detesting the bureaucracy of democracy, which theycomp ard to the notion of the content last man in Nietzsche, theywanted an expeditious nihilism to give democracy its last push. They saw aclass of Heros emerging in opposition to the bourgeois after thedemise of the democratic state. This democratic state, as was clear toSchmitt from his analysis of the circumstance, cannot demand to name anenemy from the people and cannot control the enemies that emerge withinits own ranks.However, Schmitt split from many conservatives in how he thoughtthis revolution of will should be brought about. Many conservativesblamed modernism for the bureaucracy and hankered after a return to Godas the sovereign and the hierarchies of aristocracy. While Schmittagreed that modernism gave rise to humanitarian democracy as much astechnology, he did not think we could return to the past. He thoughtthat as politics had anomic its lieu propre (proper place), and had beenintruded upon by the realm of economics, anything now had the potentialto be political. Thus, he saw in modernism something that wascompatible with the will. As he noted in Der Bergriff (196375)Economics is no longer eo ipso freedom technology serves not only(the ends of) conflict, and instead just as much the production ofdangerous weapons and instruments its progress does not further eoipso the humanitarian-moral perfection that was conceived of in the 18Cas progress.Within technology, he saw the possibility for a new state establish ondictatorship. Such a political entity would be able to decide on apublic enemy, and thus subsequently demand that the citizen either killor sacrifice his own life, which for Schmitt was the mark ofsove reignty. Thus, he claims the striking thing about the counterrevolutionaries of state of the 19C is that the moment the monarchycollapsed and they realised it could not be returned, they called fordictatorship. Schmitt claims (ibid 78)The true significance of those counterrevolutionaries of state liesprecisely in the constituency with which they decide. They heighten themoment of decision to such an extent that the notion of legitimacy,their starting point, was finally dissolved.What such a dictatorship would allow is the return of a true sovereign.IV Political faith alone significant concepts of the modern theory of the state aresecularised theological concepts not only be find of their historicaldevelopmentin which they were transferred from theology to the theoryof the state, whereby, for suit, the omnipotent God became theomnipotent lawgiver entirely also be wee-wee of their systematic structure(systematischen Struktur), the recognition of which is necessary for asociological consideration of these concepts. (Schmitt 1963 36)For Schmitt, the dictatorship of the future would allow again the lieupropre of sovereignty to be regained. This proper place, for Schmitt,is a theological place. This point is much bitternessd by Schmittscholars, see for example Meier (1995) and Mouffe (1999). In the quoteabove, it can be argued that Schmitt sees politics as theologicalwhich would be to say his politics is a theological one whereby theomnipotent God is an omnipotent lawgiver. Or, it can also be arguedthat for Schmitt, theology itself is political that theology is thebasis for politics and the two meet at the point of sovereignty. Thisessay will leave aside for the moment the thirdhand aspect of thisquote, which is that there is also a historical development that makesmodern theories of the state theological concepts it is enough to notethat in either theory, the democratic notion of the people at thecentre of sovereignty misunderstand the nature of the sovereign.F or Schmitt, the sovereign is he who creates law. However, in thiscreation, the sovereign has an interesting ontological characteristic.For (Schmitt 196336) although he stands outside the normally validlegal system, he nevertheless belongs to it, for it is he who mustdecide whether the constitution necessitate to be suspended in its entirety.Thus, for Schmitt the sovereign is include in the legal order only atthe point of its own suspension. This can be understood as theexception. For instance, in a state of exception, the law is suspendedby an act of law itself in that act, the exceptional nature of thedecision of sovereignty incurs clear, and one can see that law iscreated by an exceptional decision that can be recalled at any time inthe state of exception. This point is the airplane pilot point that lies atthe groundwork of law, and thus, is the foundation for Schmitt conceptof the political. For Schmitt, the political is preceded in a certainsense by the state. As Agamben (19 9526) explainsThe exception does not subtract itself from the rule rather, therule, suspending itself, gives rise to the exception and, maintainingitself in relation to the exception, start-off constitutes itself as a rule. . . The sovereign decision of the exception is the originaryjuridico-political structure (struttura) on the basis of which what isincluded in the juridical order and what is excluded from it acquiretheir meaningIs this anarchy? For if it was, then Schmitt would be debate forreplacing the Weimar republic with a state no better than the state ofnature. This is not the case. For Schmitt (196312)What characterizes an exception is principally unli suggestiond authority,which means the suspension of the entire existing order Because theexception is different from anarchy and chaos, order in the juristicsense still prevails, even if it is not of the ordinary kind.Schmitt is keen to maintain a constant relation between the state ofexception and the state of law. It is s till the law that suspendsitself through the figure of the sovereign. For Schmitt, it is thisdecision that is at the heart of sovereignty. Rather than sovereigntybeing a matter for popular will, Schmitt understands that underlyingthe founding of any law is a moment where law must be suspended. Thismoment returns in the state of exception. This state of exceptionguarantees the power of the sovereign. It also reveals that sovereigntyis pure immediacy, rather than representation (which is the fashioningpresent of something which is absent). As Schmitt notes of thesovereign decision (1985b 31) the decision bring forths instantly free of argumentative substantiation and received autonomousvalue. This argument, Schmitt claims, understands the true power oflaw in a way rationalist jurisprudence fails to do.We see that Schmitt argument about the decision versus the rule is nota new concept in his thought in the 1920s. The similarity betweenthese statements and those in Law and Judgement i ndicate this projecthad been there from the truly start. In the Political Theology he givesa good definition of his project (ibid 22) precisely a philosophyof concrete life must not withdraw from the exception and the extremecase, but must be interested in it to the highest degree. Through thisproject Schmitt attempts to break out of the choice between nihilisticindividualism (the bureaucratic state) and community based politics(communism, as well as regimes based on tradition) by emphasising thesingularity of sovereignty.V Solutions Sovereign ViolenceSchmitt now has a critique of the contemporary world, and a desiredworld he would like to go to. He finds his means in violence. Throughviolence Schmitt argues it is possible to break with rule based systemsof sovereignty. As he notes (1985b 12) the norm is destroyed by theexception. Thus through the exceptional act the possibility of safetyand passive voice nihilism is destroyed, (ibid) in the exception the powerof real life breaks t hrough the crust of a mechanism that has becometorpid with repetition. There is a strong theological undertone tosuch violence. The exception here functions much like the sacrifice inreligion. It is that which is outside the limits of the rule thatwhich is offered up to something absolutely interior. Indeed, we couldgo so far as to say that what the miracle is for theology, the state ofexception is for Schmitt. Both are exemplary, singular and yet bothdefine the basis for the rule one by proof of Gods existence, theother by proof of the existence of sovereignty.When man is attuned to battle, he will once to a greater extent realise the nature ofexistence and thus the nature of sovereignty. Schmitt here finds astrange bedfellow in the socialist Georges Sorel, who he quotesapprovingly on many occasions. In his essay on Sorel, he notes(Schmitt 193318) warlike and heroic conceptions that are bound upwith battle and struggle were take inn seriously again as the trueimpulse of an intensi ve life. Both Schmitt and Sorel agree on the needfor swift action and decision, both on the need for man to besubservient to a higher myth. There only point of disagreement is onwhich particular myth needs to be followed. Sorel, as a Marxist, usesthe myth of the p subprogramtarian. However, for Schmitt this is anon-political notion, allowing ideas of economics to infuse what shouldbe a pure sphere of sovereignty. The idea of the nation is that onlymyth that can keep such a purity alive. In a staggering display ofblindness to history Schmitt notes (191470) the stronger myth isnational. The national myth has until today always been victorious. Onthe same subject he quotes Mussolini approvingly (ibid 75-76) when heclaims we have created a myth, this myth is a belief, a nobleenthusiasm it does not need to be a reality.We should note at this juncture several subtleties of Schmittsargument. While he reverses Clausewitz, and claims politics should beplaced in the cause of war, he does so o nly to the extent that waremerges as a possibility to return to an autonomous notion of thepolitical sphere. Schmitt does not barrack violence for the sake ofviolence, but rather, as a way to bring democracy to its limit point.At this limit point, man will realise the impermanence of his existence(the friend enemy distinction at the heart of politics) and realisethat only a total state allows for this distinction to be transcendedthrough the absolute notion of sovereignty. Thus, war appears inSchmitt as a constant possibility which is to say, as a way ofconstantly realising the nature of mans existence. In this, theAusnahmmezustand (state of exception) is not dissimilar from whatHeidegger (1962312) calls a Grenzsituation, where Dasein glimpsestranscendence and is thereby transformed from possible to realexistence.Further, the relationship of violence to the state of exception shouldbe clarified. The state of exception is not, in and of itself, violent.Schmitt makes two distinct arg uments here that are structurallysimilar. He argues that through war man can realise the basic conceptof the political and rise above the bourgeois mentality to become ahero. In this, man is exceptional and breaking through the rules ofpeace time. He also argues that it is in the state of exception that wefind the true nature of sovereignty and only a state that keeps thisabsolutely singular notion of sovereignty will be able to succeed. Itis valuable to bear in mind these arguments are separate and Schmittis not arguing for violence for itself.However, he does make several errors of analysis it is pertinent todemonstrate here. While Schmitt dislikes the bourgeoisie immensely, itis striking to note the degree to which his thesis on the power ofviolence as a singularity in which being is rediscovered is similar tothe argument of bourgeois artists (most pertinently the FuturistMarinetti, who embraced Italian Fascism) in favour of art for artssake. The problem in this argument is that there is nothing in violenceper se that makes it singular. As a series of ethnographies of war(Richard 1996) have do clear war follows cultural patterns and, farfrom being cleansing, can be banal and quite the opposite of aGrenzsituation. Schmitts eulogisation of law seems like the y illuminateingsof a bourgeoisie after an authentic existence expressed in anexoticised Other.Despite the fact that the state of exception and the violence/wararguments are separate, their structural similarity should make usaware that for Schmitt, an aestheticisation of politics (politics as apure sphere being equivalent to art for arts sake, or in Schmittsconcept of the state, the state is simply that which is for itself)underlies his entire political theory. Moreover, this aestheticisationis a facile one that is at odds with the nature of war and the natureof violence. Following from this, it becomes clear that the exceptionis not a pure example of politics in as much as it is the basis forpolitical order, it is bound up in, for instance, economics. ForSchmitt to claim that it is pure requires the assumption that thestate precedes politics, a claim, as we see in the next section,Schmitt cannot sustain.VI Hobbes and the Root of LiberalismThe fundamental theological dogma of the evilness of the world andman leads, just as does the distinction of friend and enemy, to acategorization of men and makes impossible the undifferentiatedoptimism of a universal conception of man (Schmitt 196365)Schmitt seeks to return to Thomas Hobbes. However, the Thomas Hobbes hesearches for is not the contractual Hobbes who allows citizens someelement of self-control. Rather, he returns to Hobbes as the theoristof the state of nature. It is here that Schmitt seeks to ground hisnotion of the political. Man is originally living in contingent, riskycircumstances, when any man well-nigh him could be his enemy indeed, ishis enemy. Schmitt notes (ibid 61) all genuine political theoriespresuppose man to be ev il, meaning dangerous and dynamic. It is thisdangerous man that political theory must confront a man without theillusions of democracy and self-improvement. He notes (ibid 65) forHobbes the pessimistic conception of man is the elementarypresupposition of a specific system of political thought.Because man always requires an enemy, it is this conception of manthat can only be assuaged by sovereignty powerful enough the give apublic enemy to command obedience in return for shield. Toresurrect such a man in Hobbes, it is necessary to remove Hobbes fromhis later work, which taints him. In this task, Schmitt performs someinteresting manoeuvres. Normally, Hobbes is criticised today in afacile way by those who argue that there is no state of nature thatman always presupposes culture, transmute and reciprocity. Hobbes makesclear in a footnote (1997312) that the state of nature did not need tohave occurred it is a model for politics. Most interpret this to meanit is a model for human nature . However, Schmitt interprets the stateof nature as the state of sovereignty in some senses. Sovereignty isalso an exception that sublimates the category of friend enemy ontothe national stage. As Schmitt notes of international politics(196369) in it, states exist among themselves in a assure ofcontinual danger, and their acting subjects are evil for precisely thesame reasons as animals are stirred by their drives.What is faulty and interesting about Schmitts thesis is partly theextent to which it underlies all his other hypotheses. He argues thatpolitics presupposes the state. What this ignores is that there isalways already an encultured human, an encultured state. This is lessproblematic in Agambens formulation of Schmitt because he sees thisstate of sovereignty as reflecting the character of sovereignty itselfit does not require an original sovereignty, merely that the exceptionoccurs every time a sovereignty institutes itself. However, Schmittrequires that we begin from a poin t of enemy, and without this, thejustification for the total state begins to crumble.The violence of the original friend enemy distinction is similar tothe violence with which he wants to bring down democracy and allow mento realise their need for dictatorship. Indeed, he makes (196358) theexplicit statement the explicate struggle (Kampf) like the word enemy, isto be understood in its real(a)ial primordiality (seinsmssigeursprnglichkeit). Thus, in the struggle for the nation in the time oftotal mobilisation, we find the true relationship of singularsovereignty and the enemy friend distinction presents itself. AsSchmitt notes (ibid 32) to the enemy concept belongs the very presentpossibility of combat.In embracing Hobbes in this fashion, he attempts to attack theproject of Liberalism founded on moderating Hobbes. He disagrees withthe possibility Hobbes holds out for that people can improve themselvesto a degree, and in doing so relinquishes the notion of the goodlife. The life in t he state is a life for itself the state becomes aself-sufficient cause for all. To ground this Geist-like state, hetakes as his basis what he finds to be human in Hobbes. Namely (Hobbes199799) the passion to be reckoned upon, is fear. This fear shoulddrive men to accept the singularity of the state. Hobbes claims (ibid102) every man to every man, for want of a common power to keep themall in awe, is an enemy. For Schmitt, the common awe is the state andthe reason the state can take this role is because it can designate thecommon enemy and in doing so, command the sacrifice of the personwithin its sphere. Here we see the theological leitmotif in the thoughtof Schmitt emerge again. The sovereign becomes like God he who candemand the sacrifice of life. To reformulate this statement inSchmittean terms, the sovereign is he who can demarcate the boundary ofthe rule and the exclusion, and include you within an exclusion. Thisconcept is much more absolute than Hobbes, who holds out forself- improvement. Yet, for Schmitt this later Hobbes misses theabsolutely singular nature of human existence and of sovereignty.As we have already emphasised, Schmitt does not use Hobbes to get toa state of nature. Rather he uses Hobbes to establish the reality ofhumanity without illusions. Hobbes was writing in a time of civil war,which Schmitt liked to think was analogous to the Weimar republic. Insuch a period (Hobbes 199726) all received and normativeillusions with which mean like to deceive themselves regardingpolitical realities in periods of untroubled society vanish. He seesHobbes as trying (196352) to instil in man again the mutual relationbetween protection and obedience. This mutual relation finds its serve well in Schmitts total state.VII The Total StateInsofar as it is not derived from other criteria, the antithesis offriend and enemy corresponds to the relatively independent criteria ofother antitheses good and evil in the moral sphere, beautiful and uglyin the aesthetic s phere, and so on. In any event, it is independent,not in the sense of a distinct new domain, but in that it can be basedneither be based on any one antithesis or any combination of otherantitheses, nor can be traced to these.(Schmitt 196345)Schmitt places politics in its own sphere a sphere that we cannotestablish, as Derrida astutely noted. We might argue that this positionof absolute submission before the state is functionally similar to theposition that a worshipper finds himself before God. We find this inthe Der Bergriff when Schmitt (ibid) states that to the state as anessentially political entity belongs to the jus belli, i.e. the realposition of deciding in a concrete situation upon an enemy and theability to fight him with the power emanating for the entity.Yet, this is not a new development in Schmitts thought. Theabsolutist nature of Schmitts thought can also be found in his earlywork. In 1914, in The Value of the State and the Significance of theIndividual, he argues (19 14101) that no individual can have autonomywithin the state, and that the individual is merely a means to theessence, the state is what is most important. Here, the state emergesin Schmitts work as something essential. As a sociologist, Schmitt wasaware of the temporal formation of the state. Yet he also considered itas a Platonic form that one aspires towards.With the issue of the Nazi state, Schmitt joined the Nazi party andwrote legal tracts for them. However, increasingly isolated and underthreat as an unconventional thinker, he went into early retirement. TheNazi state did not emerge as the total state, as he tacitly admits inhis work on the Leviathan. Interestingly for a scholar who placed somuch emphasis on the real and the concrete order of life hissolution was a Platonic state. Schmitt tries in vain to exclude allother categories from the political. What he finds is that when, as inthe Nazi regime, the constitutions exists alongside thenon-formalisable decision of the sta te of exception (the Fhrers ruleis the law, as Goebbels never tired of saying), the one requires ageneralised state of emergency. In such a state of emergency the linkthat Schmitt sees as essential, that which is between law and decision,is broken. This is not to say there is not order in the generalisablestate of emergency, far from it, but to claim that, with Agamben(1995), nomos and animos enter a state of undecidability that breaksthe Schmittean dream of such a state providing security. cardinal ConclusionBehind the idea of the total state stands the correct realisationthat the contemporary state possesses new mechanisms of power and possibilities of enormous intensity.(Schmitt 1963186)This statement by Schmitt is correct. There are indeed great mechanismsof power and intensity in the idea of the total state. Furthermore,these are weapons of the modern age. Schmitts positive legacy is theelucidation of the grounds of sovereignty in a founding violence thatoccurs when law suspend s itself in its own creation. Thisunderstanding, while it needs to be nuances, it still useful fordemocracy today. An understanding of the way in which supposedlydemocratic regimes today use and instrumentalise violence and a stateof exception is vital to combating the excesses of sovereignty. We could for example look to the way the Guantanamo bay inmates are placed in a category which is now beyond the friend enRunaway pip-squeakren Causes and Strategies for ProtectionRunaway Children Causes and Strategies for ProtectionAbstractSurprisingly there is less knowledge to our public of the significance of shoo-in nestlingren and their problems particularly in less developed Asian countries which include Pakistan. A general statistics collected by the police department which is not an exact estimate and this wrong data might lead to this problem being intense. Subsequently, with elapsing time this problem is becoming more serious receivable to deteriorating financial and political c ondition and coming into consideration of the government. Therefore the government of Punjab with help of UNICEF on 17 March 2003 at Lahore initiated an organization named (CPWB) Child Protection and Welfare Bureau. This is the most noted organization operating presently in Pakistan dealing with the problems of affectaway electric razorren quite efficiently with foreign helps on a large scale. It is aimed for the recovery, rescue, and replenishment of poor and unacquainted(p) children involved in abuse, beggary, burglary, ignored and exploitation by adults. A number of institution of CP and WP are being operated in major cities of Pakistan which include 2 branches in Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan ad Faisala mischievous.AcknowledgementsWith the name of ALLAH ALMIGHTY we were able to finish our search paper. This research was conducted with the support of the organization named CHILD PROTECTION AND WELFARE BUREAU. We greatly thank the staff members of CP WB for the cooperation. S pecial thanks is placed to Mr. Roa Khalil Ahmad the Assistant Director for guiding us throughout our attend to the Bureau and arranging a productive interrogate with Muhammad Amin Malik the Child Protection Officer of the bureau. Responsibility of the research paper remains with the group members which include Furqan Fasahat, Kanza Munir, Sana Rizwan, Maliha Zahid and Amna Mahmood.Problems of feastaway childrenThe term Runaway Children is referred to those kids or youngsters who have been found missing from sign for about a few days. This is a voluntary act by the children who face miserable financial and family issues which cause them to leave their syndicates and become a part of public places. due to lack of knowledge and understanding the concept or idea of lost and missing children is less acknowledged among people of Pakistan, although it is a serious issue which is considerably growing with time. In Pakistan there is less documentation in the relevant department which l ead to lack of essential information on this serious social issue.This has been under notice by UNICEF for a long period of time because this problem is quite serious and general in Asian countries especially Pakistan being a less developed nation is a major victim of it. As the financial and political conditions of Pakistan are deteriorating with time this problem has come under notice by the Government of Pakistan from recent familys and necessary steps have been taken at a large scale in order to deal with this problem.All the children are in growing process so it is natural that they are emotionally immature. In this developing age appropriate freedom for communication and proper space to express their emotions and views should be provided. When this lacks and no family support is provided a feeling of loneliness cause them to runaway.Runaway is regarded as a serious social issue. The children who leave their homes voluntarily face miserable domestic conditions which are at ti mes intolerable. The experiences approach by these runaway children include neglect ion, physical and sexual abuse, provokeal disputes which gives a sense of insecurity, sibling rivalry, failure in studies or exams and the fear of parents.The first, foremost sub radicals under consideration which are to be researched are the causes and circumstances which cause the young children to run away from their homes. This is depute to Maliha Zahid. The molybdenum subtopic which needs to be discussed is the problems faced by children when they run away and this will be covered by M. Furqan Fasahat. The third domain which is important is the effects on the society and to be done by Amna Mahmood. Moreover, the NGOs are to be researched for this topic, and its role played in the dealing with this issue in Lahore and is worked upon by Sana Rizwan. Lastly, the criminal activities in which these children get involved will be discussed by Kanza Munir.These above stated aspects will be worked up on by us in this research project. This topic is quite vast and more areas can also be covered to enhance the research which includes that do the children desire to go back home, or prefer living in other places. Furthermore, the research can be further enhanced by looking into the struggle of parents in finding their missing children. But these aspects are not to be discussed or researched. writings ReviewThe topic being focused in our research is Runaway Children. The forces and circumstances responsible for runaway, practice by children, and their rescue and protection against exploitation.According to genus Rana Asif Habib, convener of initiator, there are around 10000 children in Pakistan who live in the bridle-paths. A research conducted revealed that among the runaway children 66% are victim of violence at home, education center and work place. Only in Karachi, 30000 of these children are deprived of homely comfort and are exposed to drug and sexual abuse. In order to protec t, the need of legislation on child right is stressed. At least in Punjab there is a Bill of 2004 for Destitute and Neglected Children Protection, whereas other provinces are without any legislation. Therefore shelters and rehabilitation centers must be set up and run by state, health services and education facilities must be provided to the destitute children. On the recommendation of the UNCRC committee drafted a superlative which is further waiting for legislation regarding child rights.()The Pakistan Penal Code section 89 has made embodied punishment lawful which rather spoils the confidence of child to exist as a respectable person. It plays rather a negative role and discourages children from sledding to schools. Humaira Butt, SPARC School Project coordinator, said that there must be other ways besides corporal punishment, which can be effective in making discipline. It is revealed that because of corporal punishment 50% of the children runaway from schools and increases th e rate of runaway children.The most common reason why children run away is divorce and parental disputes. The second danger is the pressure of predators present everywhere in our community, and its unmanageable to recognize them as they look like the guy next door. The next is the abduction of children by their non custodial parents for using them for their own selfish interest. Fourthy many children are abducted and sold for body parts due to the underground business in practice on internet. Young girls are in danger of being kidnapped and sold for prostitution. Many children run away because of abuse and neglect by their foster parents. In developed countries like USA an Amber Alert system in developed. Police can act on tips to locate a missing child which is encouraging.The name deals with an encouraging factor that the director of the film Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle, and the producer, Christian Colson, set up a charity trust Jai Ho for helping poor children in Mumbai, I ndia.The NCRC bill does not enjoy redressal power and same is with NCCWD. Problems in budget allocation in the health and education sector for children also exits. The committee is against the tendency of corporal punishment big(a) to school going children, because it lowers the literacy rate further in Pakistan. Another tragedy is the non registration of 70% of children at the time of birth, and the bonded labor practices in many industries and informal sectors, affecting the poorest and most vulnerable children prohibiting slavery and all form of forced labor. Though Employment of Children Act 1991 exists yet the awareness is non existent so no one report to the police and judiciary. The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) is deeply concerned that the minimum age of criminal responsibility continues to remain very low (7 years) therefore government should raise it to an internationally acceptable level. The number of children in prisons is high and number of juvenile courts, trained lawyer s and probation officers is insufficient.Faisal Kamal Pasha and Obaid Abrar Khan, Friday, September 11, 2009. The tidingsIt is told that Pirwadhai bus stand provide informations that mostly there runaway belongs to families facing object poverty, illiterate and orphans. These children get involved in drugs and some are addicts of sniffing an adhesive. The city police officer Rao Muhammad Iqbal said that these children are sent to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau. The CP and WB have recovered 1251 children from March 2008 as reported.Edhi, the social role player of Edhi Foundation, arranged a bus from Karachi to Lahore to recruit children who were lost or had run away. Social worker says that Pakistan has a large population of runaway children or lost children, estimating their number at more than 20,000. Naveed Hasan Khan of Azad Foundation estimates that there are 13,000 to 15,000 in Karachi alone and the number in increasing. The UN, UNICEF estimates that there are 10,000 in Karachi. Due to poverty some parents are reluctant to receive their children from Edhi Homes, and also some children do not want to go back.The articles reviewed in this research give the real detail regarding the certain barriers which contradict the final solution of the problems. Though the NGOs and social workers work with vigor to eradicate this evil yet the responsibility of the state is the first and foremost demand. Government institutions like Police and judiciary must play its adequate role required for addressing the cases with iron hands. Budget must be allocated to the centers of rehabilitation to let the victims get protection. Social values must be up held, especially at the domestic front. Parents and relatives must perform their duty towards small children. sort of of fighting on their own disputes the must be forced to safeguard the basic rights of their of springs. aft(prenominal) all the parents are responsible for the upbringing of children, if they canno t take tutelage of the tender hearts why at all they had the privilege to be called parents. Poverty must be lessened and education be made reachable to all in order to stop children runaway.Research QuestionsDomain QuestionsWhat are the causes and circumstances of campaign away?What are the problems faced by children who runaway?What role is played by the NGOs for supporting runaway children?What are the effects on the society of these runaway children?What kind of criminal activities take place?Subsidiary questionsWhat are the major reasons for running away from home and familyWhich is the most common age for running awayDescription of the abuses and strange experiences faced by children which caused them to runawayWhere do the children go after running away?How do these children survive?How are they treated by the people around the outside world?What tryingies are faced by them?How do the bureau contact their parents?What type of background do these children have?How the NGO support them?How is the issue handled by the ngos?What is their behavior when they are save by the organization?What problems the organization face in handling such children?From where do these children come from?What are the social effects on the society of street children?Details of the main places in Lahore for runaway children.Description of the psyche of runaway childrenWhat are the measures and steps taken for these runaway childrenWho helps in promoting criminal activities?What incentives are provided to such children?Reasons for being involved in criminal activities?Which sector of the society is involved in exploiting these children?Research and methodologyWhile the research was conducted, the first visit to the bureau was dated 26-03-2011 but it was not much productive. Only a meeting with the assistant director Rao Khalil Ahmad was possible in which the main topic of the research, goals and the purpose of visit was explained. In addition, a copy of interview question whi ch were to be asked by the organization representative and the runaways, were handed over and the date and time of the interview was assigned by the assistant director. In exchange a handout of brief history, background and establishment of the bureau was given. The assigned date of the interview was 02-04-2011 and proved successful. The Child Protection Officer, Muhammad Amin Malik gave a well prepared and satisfactory interview which greatly helped in the research paper. The interview involved all the group members of which four were postulation questions and one was busy in recording the movie of the interview. The answers of the interview questions were noted on the interview sheets provided by the instructor and were later signed and stamped by the CPO person. back up interview was with the runaway children in the bureau and while moving to the department of children the surroundings of the organization were keenly observed. Each child was asked similar questions, that is rea son for running away, strange experiences if any, any involvement in criminal activities etc. Moreover, 20 questionnaires were prepared and filled in by the general public and the sample included students of LSE and family members.The interview with the CPO provided ample information relating to the organization, history and background of the problem plus the bureau. Different experiences quoted by affected children were separated related to each domain and helped in analyzing the topic well. The annual report of bureau provided exact facts, figures, dates and statistical information in detail of the organization. The answers of the filled questionnaires were decoded in Microsoft Excel and statistically analyzed in Stat graphics.Analysis of data and discussionCauses and reasonsChildren who run away from home are typically fueled by an overload of depression, anxiety, a sense of loneliness and madness from their families and society. These kids often feel as if they have little supp ort in times of trouble and no where to run when things get tough. Unfortunately for some children, parents realize too late theres a problem and the child ends up a runaway on the streets. Many children run away because their parents or legal protector abuse and belittle or neglected them. (Anonymous, 2011). The precise number of runaway children in Lahore, or across the country is unknown. Estimates by organizations working with street children notify there are at least 5,000 in the city at any one time, with the largest number based on Data Durbar or on the railway station. The charitable Eidhi foundation , which houses runaway children and attempts to unite them with parents estimates there are at least 10,000 such children in Karachi alone. By the end of 2003 there had been 30% increase across the country in children deviation homes. They leave mostly due to domestic violence or acute social economic hardships (focus on runaway children, report, 2004 September, 8). The surve y carried out on runaway children in which people where asked that would they leave there home if they have lack of resources and love, approximately 80% children disagreed on this, while 25% agree on this. According to the survey boys run away from home more than girls as boys are more aggressive and its difficult for them to control their anger . most of the children run in the age group between 10 to 16 and the main reason for running is parent dispute (appendix A and C).The first thing which comes in our mind is, who are runaway children and how can a child run from his home. What are the causes and reason due to which a child leaves his home? Home the place which is known as heaven on earth. How this heaven becomes hell for that child? Are children forced to leave the home or they leave it by themselves. Children are innocent figure how they can be ready to face the difficulties of the evil world outside their home or the home they are leaving in is actually filled with evil pe ople? Where these children go after running from their homes and what sort of difficulties they face. How does NGOs help them and rescue these sorts of children. In which sort of criminal activates these children usually get involved and what sort of impact these children have on society as these children are the future of our nation. To get answer of all these questions our group carried out a research on this topic as its the most important problem which are society is facing. The domain of my topic is causes and reasons due to which children leave their home. Nowadays( Renee, 2000) the reason for leaving home are far more tragic, things such as seriously eroded family condition where children feel neglected or unloved or they are abused. Children feel that if they dont run away they may end up dead. According to Dr Krishna Prasad, (2000) said all children are essentially insecure, as they are emotionally immature. This immaturity is a part of the growing process. Each day they b ecome more and more secure if the family is a confining knit one with enough freedom for communication and emotional expression. Thus children runaway due to different reasons such as constant quarrels of parents ,causing insecurity and nuisance in childs heart , if they feel unloved , fear of physical danger like father oppressing the child for wrong doing, fear that there would be withdrawal of emotional support for wrong doings.( 2000,runaway syndrome, psychology4all.com ) . Runaway children belong to different classes and have different reasons for running. Most of them belong to lower class. Children run from villages and come to cities as they think they can earn more money and live a better life. But after leaving their homes they get into wrong hands and get involved in criminal activities.Poverty is one of the main cause due to which 60% of the children leave their homes as there is no concept of family readying in our country(Pakistan) thats why the budget is more than the income ,so it is not possible for a poor person to put to death his familys needs. As the person can not fulfill his childrens wants and needs so he forces them to earn many in any case. For this reason the children try to earn money from illegal ways such as they get involved into criminal activities, they start begging, stealing etc. many children dont want to work and so they end up leaving their homes because for them it is the last option. . In a recent interview conducted from a runaway child (Personal communication, March 26, 2011), named Ahmed Raza he told that he left his home due to the bad conditions of his home. He had 3 brothers and 4 sisters, so it was difficult for his father to support such a huge family thats why his father used to beat him and told him to do work and earn money but he didnt wanted to do that, so he left his home. Sometimes a child doesnt want to leave home but he is forced by his family members to do so as they don have enough money to fulfil l their basic needs so they leave them to different NGOs. Or sell them to people so they can use the children for illegal things. I witnessed this thing myself when I visited child protection bureau (CPB). A man came along with her daughter to leave her to the government department, that girl was crying and saying that she didnt wanted to stay there his father said that he would come to meet her. The man took some money from the employee of bureau and left her there. When investigated from the people of bureau they said that the girl had ran from the place she used to work and that the man rescued her and came to drop her to the NGO so they can find her parents and send her back. . The organization was double-dealing or not I dont have any idea but I observed it. Many children run due to their father or mother mite be ill or having a swear disease which may also be caused due to poverty. Poverty is one thing which can ruin a blissful family just with in no time. In a recent intervie w conducted from an employee (Mohamed Amin Malik), working in a government department (CBI), told that a child, whom their aggroup rescued, on asking the reason of leaving home he told that her father had cancer and he had three sisters and its very difficult for him to support them so he ran from home to get some work, so that he can help out this family.According the child protection officer (CPO) of CPB, the main reason due to which children runaway from home is due to neglect ion which is caused due to broken family or if the child is orphan and lives with his relatives . A child needs both mother and fathers love and care but if one isnt present they mite not feel secure and would feel unloved and if both are not present then their life becomes miserable. There differen5t cases in broken families, old father had done second marriage and doesnt allow the child t o meet his mother and the stepmother can be bad with the child so the child have only one way out that he should lea ve that hell. In recent interview (Personal communication, March 26, 2011) conducted from a runaway child who was not normal child. He told that he ran from his home because his father used to hit him and didnt allowed him to meet his mother, so he ran from home because he wanted to live with his mother but as he was not normal he was unable to find his mother. the second reason due to which children run from their home is when their parents are no longer in the world to take care of them and they live with there grandparents , aunts or other relatives . What may come relatives can not draw a comparison with parents. If a child lives with his aunt she can never gives her/him proper time , care and love as she gives to her own children due to this the child feel neglected.. Some relatives also take work from the children and also abuse them if they dont do work they abuse them due to these reasons the child end up leaving that place .A.Akbar (Personal communication, March 26, 2011) t old that he had three brothers and one sister . His parents were dead and he used to leave with his aunt. His aunt didnt wanted him to live with her she used to beat him so he left that place .When he was rescued by the CPB ,they informed his aunt that Akbar is with us but she refused to take him back .There are many different reasons due to which children leave their home .Sometimes its not big reason due to which children leave their homes but unfortunately it becomes. children are innocent and if parents only yell at them they get hurt and just leave their home and go to their relatives or friends place its the duty of relatives or friends to report their parents if their child comes to their place other then giving him more liability.Sometimes children run if their parent doesnt give them proper time as they give to their other siblings. In this way the child feel neglected and start hating his parents and run from his home although he isnt aware of the after affects of this. Ch ildren may run due to fight between siblings and parent doesnt stop them from doing this. They may take their fight as a normal thing but it can make a huge disaster. Many children run because they dont want to study and their parents beat them if they dont get good results. If a child fails he/she gets scared that his/her parents would beat him/her, so only one option is left for him/her to run away from his home.A person is recognized by the companionship he possesses. One of the reason due to which children run away from home is confederate influence. If they belong to a bad company the chances of running increases. Nowadays children listen more to their friends then to their parents. Kasim (Personal communication, March 26, 2011) told that he came to data durbar with his friends to eat rice and the CPB team rescued him from there. He just came to enjoy with his friends from his home town (Jarawaral). When investigated from the bureau people they told that the boy had ran twice from his home and the main reason due to which he ran is that he doesnt want to do work so he ran from home with his friendsThere are many different cases due to which children run from their homes from which some of the reasons and causes have been explained after research. This problem is still not solved and increasing day by day. Measures should be taken to solve this problem other wise it would become havoc for our society. Though runaway has become a serious problem , we as adults are able to control it by understanding the hearts of children and giving them loving care .it is possible to change the way of thinking, behavior and emotional status of children while they are growing .(runaway children-an overview ,2008)Problems faced after running awayThe literal meaning of runaway children are the kids who voluntarily are found missing from their homes at least a few days without taking liberty from their parents or caretaker usually due to intolerant domestic conditions or vio lence The topic of research paper is Run Away Children, and the domain on which the research is being conducted is problems faced by these run away children after running away from their homes.According to the Child Protection Officer, Muhammad Ameen Malik (Child Protection focus, Shalamar), there have been thirty two gigabyte two hundred and eighty four children rescued from 2005 till now. However according to the UNICEF report there are forty thousand still on streets who are either forced or have deliberately left their homes. The runaway ratio is increasing year by year and is around forty to fifty percent. Run away cases are mostly from the cities of Punjab and Sindh. These children are mostly from the lower middle class families who have low family income and are suffering from continuous family problems. The main reasons that force these children to run away can be listed as parental dispute, peer pressure, poverty, siblings rivalry and work pressure.In certain cases parent al dispute exceeds to such an extent that the small minds of children get confused. They become victims of fear of the breakage in the parents relationship. The frequent clashes, disagreements and constant turmoil spoil the inner(a) happiness of young hearts, because they demand peace, love and attention which do not exist. Their dream of a happy home shatters and they shun all negative and leave. fake and peer pressure are also a major reason of running away. Often boy at the age of seven or eight years are forced by their parents to work and earn money for their livelihood. Some of them are sent to workshops and others to road side inns, where the heartless cruel owners, the so called ustad jee, treat these innocent souls ruthlessly. Often being punished by these masters, and consistently rebuked. These small bread winners of the house get over matured before time, discuss things with their co-workers about the luxuries and freedom of others boys of their age enjoy. Often they s ee kids of their own age traveling in large cars and being pampered by their parents. As a result they revolt. They are left with no other alternative and in search of a better life they run away without realizing the true nature of the city life where wolfs are ready to maltreat them. One reason is an unhealthy criticism regarding education and other attributes. This can be classified as siblings rivalry. At times parents start comparing their own children with one another(prenominal). Often the younger brother feels that he has no importance in the family because he faces consternation at every spot. In order to prove his strength he decides to go to his own way to at least avoid a situation where he imagines himself as unwanted and disrespected, which gives rise to hatred and the ignorant figure. Poverty is the most imminent reason behind this misfortune. In poverty stricken homes the inhabitants loses human compassion and becomes distrustful for other members of the family unit . Complaint of lack of pabulum, clothes, education and shelter snatches away love and cares of a demanding and eager child. Moreover the constant insult and trouncing contribute in creating a breach and results breaking up the links.Due to the reasons mentioned above children leave their homes. The question now arises that how do these children leave their cities? What mean of please do they use to do this? And where do these children finally land up? According to the interviews conducted and the information collected from the management of the Child Protection Center these run away children acquired different modes of transport. Mostly they sit in trains from their local railway stations having no knowledge of their next destination. They are often drifted along on different directions, friendless and penniless. In an alien environment these fear stricken ignorant beings, in search of shelter, roam about from one place to another in quest of being recognized and acknowledged by the big citys complex activities. And from here their difficult entourage of life takes a new turn.After leaving homes there is danger awaiting at every step. The basic problem faced by these children is shelter, and then comes the problem of hunger. Both of these create havoc in life of these runaways. In our Islamic God fearing society the problem of hunger can be met by visiting certain center of free food but shelter is next to impossible. This shows these children the truth that they stand nowhere, no identification, no background and devoid of love and affection, they now have to make their own way into life yet threatened by dangers at every step. During day time they stay on roads but long nights are difficult to spend. They sleep on footpaths and outside the garden walls and later make friendship with other vagabonds, and tramps. The pangs of hunger force them to do all sorts of labor sometimes wiping the separate of cars and collecting pennies in return for buying food. M oral and social destructions are the consequences they face, finally one by one entangled by all bad habits. Another problem faced by the runaway children is they join the gang of villains who wickedly train these children as street beggars. At every crossing on traffic signals small children comes up asking for money which is not for their own use but to satisfy the whims of the criminal minded gangsters, thus entering into the dread(a) world of nefarious people. Victimized by the wicked people all sorts of abuse they are exposed to and thus pay the price of leaving the security of their homes. Destruction then has no limits, sometimes these children are arrested by police and are sent to prison but police again cannot put a check on their activities. Thus they grow up as criminals and plague the society. Many of these children also get involved in drugs. Most of the beggars turns into hideous sinful criminal and are also found addicted to drugs. They are involved in selling drugs to students and youngsters. This deadly poison destroys the health and becomes the cause of many opprobrious consequences. They not only spoil their own life but involve the future of our nation, the youth, by exposing them to drug addiction.The runaway children in the Child Protection Center helped in doing the research properly. The children interviewed were five in number of different ages, different backgrounds and different reason for running away. One of the children was 10 years old he said that his step mother beats him so he ran away from home. When asked the question of what