Schmitt holds that circumscribed European warfare was the highest form of human order

Evidence

And compare Schmitt: “It is not war as such that shatters order … the essence of the European jus gentium was to circumscribe war. The essence of these wars was meant to measure forces in an orderly fashion, in front of witnesses and in a circumscribed space. Such wars are the very opposite of disorder. They include the highest form of order of which human efforts are capable” (Schmitt, Nomos der Erde, 157-59). — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 830

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts sharply with Levinas’s totalizing identification of war with being itself (Wyschogrod), and speaks to the reader’s interest in sacrifice and ritualized violence.
• DEFINE: Defines the jus gentium stance on war as circumscribed, witnessing, force-measuring order — the very opposite of disorder.
• CANDY: A useful quote for conversation: European jurisprudence once called its wars ‘the highest form of order human efforts can achieve.’