McCormick: Rousseau, Schmitt, and the Legitimization of Minoritarian “Democracy”

By John McCormick (Karl J. Weintraub Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago)

Perhaps the strongest “democratic” legitimation of transitions from representative to authoritarian regimes is the claim that a more “enlightened,” “morally invested,” or “vital” minority favoring the transition better expresses the common good (or “general will”) than a mere numerical majority of citizens. This essay examines the origins of this legitimation strategy for contemporary authoritarianism in the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Carl Schmitt.

Lecture as part of the 2026 Annual Conference of the Research Program “Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?” (Turning Points. Normative Orders in Transition?) at the Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt, funded by Stiftungsfonds Commerzbank im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V.

00:00 Introduction of the speaker
03:04 Lecture by John McCormick

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