The Dispatch: The Nazi Scholar Inspiring China’s Intelligentsia

The Dispatch: The Nazi Scholar Inspiring China’s Intelligentsia

How Carl Schmitt shaped the CCP’s anti-liberal global vision.

Article by Benn Steil

October 21, 2025 3:58 pm (EST)

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Current political and economic issues succinctly explained.

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The world is going to Schmitt: Carl Schmitt, that is—the famed and shamed “crown jurist” of the Nazi regime.

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In a piece for The Dispatch, where I spotlight China, I make the case that Schmitt has emerged as illiberalism’s answer to Fukuyama.

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