“The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.”

— Carl Schmitt, book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and ene…" by Carl Schmitt?

Carl Schmitt36

German jurist, political theorist and professor of law 1888–1985

Related quotes

“War as the most extreme political means discloses the possibility which underlies every political idea, namely, the distinction of friend and enemy.”

Carl Schmitt book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)

“Political thought and political instinct prove themselves theoretically and practically in the ability to distinguish friend and enemy. The high points of politics are simultaneously the moments in which the enemy is, in concrete clarity, recognized as the enemy.”

Carl Schmitt book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)

“Political criticism is our enemies' best friend.”

Bernard Kerik (1955) American police chief

Newsday, October 20, 2003

“Between friends and enemies, there is no question of freedom, only violence and subjugation. This is the reality of politics, a reality that liberals often do not dare to face.”

Jiang Shigong (1967) Chinese legal and political theorist

《乌克兰宪政危机与政治决断》 ["Ukraine's constitutional crisis and political decisions"] (2004), translated by David Ownby in Rethinking China's Rise, p. 27

“Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. It is also aware of the ineluctable tension between the moral command and the requirements of successful political action.”

Hans Morgenthau book Politics Among Nations

Six Principles of Political Realism, § 4.
Politics Among Nations (1948)
Context: Political realism is aware of the moral significance of political action. It is also aware of the ineluctable tension between the moral command and the requirements of successful political action. And it is unwilling to gloss over and obliterate that tension and thus to obfuscate both the moral and the political issue by making it appear as though the stark facts of politics were morally more satisfying than they actually are, and the moral law less exacting than it actually is.

“A definition of the political can be obtained only by discovering and defining the specifically political categories.”

Carl Schmitt book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)