"The study of the three types of legal thought is indeed the strongest indication in Schmitt's work of not a turning point, but a dilemma and a deadlock for its author. Schmitt seeks in the thought of this particular order, which he establishes here, a synthesis of a dialectical type that surpasses positivism as a sum of the negative elements of democracy and decisionism. In other words, he seeks a positivity with legal-political power without arbitrary decisions depending on the moment."

(from the Introduction by X. Papacharalambous)