New Discourses Forced "Friendship" Under the Friend-Enemy Distinction
Mar 9, 2026
A look at Carl Schmitt's friend-enemy distinction and how it underpins tribal politics and war. A discussion of how sovereign declarations create exceptions and enable dictatorial power. An examination of enforced alliances that turn dissent into enmity and invite dangerous coalitions. A warning about replacing one totalitarian impulse with another.
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Friend Enemy Distinction Is A Political Binary
- The friend-enemy distinction frames politics as a binary of allies versus existential threats rather than normal political debate.
- James Lindsay traces the term to Carl Schmitt's 1932 Concept of the Political and calls it the root of woke tribalism.
Sovereign Declares The Enemy And The Exception
- Sovereigns declare exceptions and enemies, concentrating decision power to resolve perceived existential threats.
- Lindsay cites Schmitt's Political Theology line "he who decides the exception" and the idea of an unbound executive using emergency authority.
Declared Enemies Fall Outside Normal Rules
- Once an enemy is declared by leadership, normal legal or moral limits are suspended against that enemy.
- Lindsay explains this enables two-tiered treatment: "for my enemies, the law; for my friends, everything," leading to ends-justify-the-means actions.
