Making Enemies

by Rodney Barker

You may tell a lady by the company she keeps. But you may tell a political leader by the company he or she doesn't keep and by the enemies that they describe. Whom a prime minister or president will not shake hands with is still more noticed than with whom they will. Public identity can afford to be ambiguous about friends, but not about enemies. The identity of nations, movements and parties is cultivated by the description of enemies, and narratives about enemies are a recurring feature of the way in which political leaders, parties and nations give accounts of who they are themselves. This is neither necessary nor unavoidable and finding a way of creating identity without creating enemies is one of the major problems facing the contemporary world.