ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the unity between ‘norm’ and ‘exception’ as different forms of exercise of public power. He argues that both ‘norm’ and ‘exception’ are essential forms for the reproduction of bourgeois rule and that the change from one form to the other is contingent upon the intensification of socio-economic antagonisms. This argument is pursued based on an examination of the transition from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi state form, as reflected in the work of Carl Schmitt. Schmitt’s work will be assessed as a unified whole in its socio-economic and political context. During the interwar period in Germany, two major changes took place: one relating to the structure of the state and the other to the theory of the state. The fundamental differences and nuances between the ‘normal’ and the ‘exceptional’ forms of exercise of public power is the point of departure of this analysis.
