Empire

A pivotal concept in political and historical studies, the notion of empire generally refers to a complex political organisation embodying a unity of command over a large territory or a set of politically articulated territories. This chapter introduces the reader to Carl Schmitt’s conceptualisation of ‘empire’, underscoring its conceptual specificity with respect to the common definition of historical empires to which Schmitt also refers in his work. It traces the development of Schmitt’s theory of reich and Grossraum as developed in the framework of his reflections on international law since the late 1930s, highlighting two dimensions: a geopolitical-operational dynamic and an eschatological-functional task of empire.