ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the existence of a paradox within the international law of belligerent occupation the coexistence of preservation and transformation through an enquiry into the political theology of international law and that of occupation. It draws on Carl Schmitt's famous claim that 'all significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts', suggesting that the field of laws of occupation embodies the figure of the katechon within the eschatology of international law. The chapter considers Schmitt's employment of the katechon as it figures in the eschatology of his theology and in his scholarship. It often addresses pressing humanitarian concerns of the 'here and now', and it aims to work with the legal form provided by the laws of occupation to align it with international secular, legal, political and economic standards of the day. The laws of occupation and its contemporary scholarly debates beyond mere apology and utopia and beyond mere teleology.
