US Security Strategy: The Apprentice and His Master

Article summary

The new US national security strategy is heavily influenced by Carl Schmitt’s thinking, although Trump has probably never read any of Schmitt’s works. Trump’s policies reflect Schmitt’s concept of the friend-enemy distinction, in which opponents are viewed as traitors or fools. The strategy emphasizes the president’s authority and aims to make America safer, richer and more powerful. Schmitt’s ideas of sovereignty and large-scale order are reflected in the strategy, which relies on unconventional diplomacy, military power and economic pressure. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the American security strategy really secures the God-given natural rights of citizens or represents a dangerous development towards authoritarian structures.

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