Telos Press

Telos 216

Telos 216 · Fall 2026

Dangers to Democracy

While our investigations of politics have often focused on the issue of political theology, Telos 216 is devoted to the dangers to democracy posed by the declining commitment to open debate, evidence-based reasoning, and pluralism.

Read David Pan's introduction to the issue.

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Schmitt, State, Movement, People

State, Movement, People

The Tripartite Structure of Political Unity

by Carl Schmitt

Translated, Edited, and Introduced by Joseph W. Bendersky
With a Preface by David Pan

Written in 1933, State, Movement, People presents Carl Schmitt’s controversial attempt to explain the political and legal order of the emerging Third Reich. This new critical edition, translated and introduced by Joseph W. Bendersky, examines Schmitt’s transition from conservative opponent of Hitler’s rise to collaborator with the new regime.

Available November 1. Pre-order your copy today and save 20% with coupon code SCHMITT20

Telos 215

Telos 215 · Summer 2026

China and Sovereignty

In Telos 215, we examine how Chinese engagement with Western thinkers such as Marx, Foucault, and Schmitt has shaped competing visions of sovereignty and world order. We also feature a special section on China, Taiwan, and the United States that considers the nature of the Chinese government and the appropriate U.S. response to China’s rise.

Read David Pan's introduction to the issue.

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Knowledge, What Is It Good For?

Italian/American Leadership in the Twenty-First Century

by Anthony Julian Tamburri

In Knowledge, What Is It Good For?, Anthony Julian Tamburri provides a detailed and systematic examination of Italian/American leadership today. In this new collection of essays, Tamburri critiques the overall lack of knowledge about the history of Italians and their descendants in the United States, and emphasizes the need for solutions to remedy these gaps.

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Telos 212

Telos 212 · Fall 2025

Debating Postliberalism

The late twentieth century was the age of triumphant liberalism, but its triumph was brief. Across the West, populists on the far left and on the radical right have challenged the political status quo defended by center-left and center-right parties. In this issue of Telos, we explore the limitations of liberalism, the rise of antiliberal forces, and the emergence of postliberal alternatives through a number of essays and book reviews.

Read Adrian Pabst's introduction to the issue.

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Shards and Specters of the New World Order

Casting Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies as Critique

by Timothy W. Luke

In this wide-ranging and incisive new volume, Timothy Luke traces the trajectory of Soviet and post-Soviet geopolitics, from the ideological dynamics of revolutionary Russia through the Cold War and the "War on Terror" to, most recently, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Coming Soon from Telos Press: Carl Schmitt’s State, Movement, People by Telos Press Available on November 1: State, Movement, People: The Tripartite Structure of Political Unity, by Carl Schmitt. Pre-order your copy today in our online store and save 20% by using the coupon code SCHMITT20. State, Movement, People The Tripartite Structure of Political Unity by Carl Schmitt Translated, Edited, and Introduced by Joseph W. BenderskyWith a Preface by David Pan Written in 1933,… (continue reading)
Telos 216 (Fall 2026): Dangers to Democracy by David Pan Telos 216 (Fall 2026): Dangers to Democracy is now available for purchase in our store. Individual subscriptions to Telos are also available in both print and online formats. We are still living in the shadow of the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment, when the theological and monarchical justifications for political authority began to lose legitimacy. Individual autonomy, open debate, and evidence-based reasoning were… (continue reading)
Call for Papers: Telos Special Issue on Wittfogel and Postliberal World Orders by Telos Press Karl Wittfogel’s 1957 magnum opus, Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power, came out at the peak of the Cold War. As a former Marxist, Wittfogel saw analysis of what he called “hydraulic despotism” in premodern Asian bureaucratic empires as of more than merely regional or historical interest. With an eye to Soviet and Maoist developments, he argued that “[t]otal… (continue reading)
The Telos Press Podcast: Alvise Capria on Carl Schmitt in Contemporary Chinese Political Thought by Telos Press In today's episode of the Telos Press Podcast, Telos editor David Pan talks with Alvise Capria about his article "Sous l’œil des Chinois: The Reception of Carl Schmitt in Contemporary Chinese Political Thought," from Telos 215 (Summer 2026): China and Sovereignty. An excerpt of the article appears here. In their conversation they discuss the primary reasons that Chinese scholars look to Schmitt… (continue reading)

Telos has always celebrated rejuvenation and renewal, and in recent years we’ve embraced that change in a variety of ways. We’ve taken Telos online and digitized our complete archive, allowing institutional subscribers from around the world to access the journal over the Internet. We’ve created a regular conference series in New York City and another more recently in Europe, which have brought together an increasing number of scholars to discuss today’s critical issues in politics and philosophy . . . (continue reading)

For over fifty years, readers from around the globe have turned to Telos to engage with the sharpest minds in politics and philosophy, and to discover emerging theoretical analyses of the critical issues of the day. Subscribe now and don’t miss a single issue!

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