Ellenfél és ellenség a politikában
Enemy and adversary in politics

Summary/Abstract: According to the author, enemy and adversary are key categories in democratic politics both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. The category of adversary demonstrates that democracy is a competitive system and the designation of enemies by adversaries shows the boundaries of the democratic system. The essay details the issue in four parts. Firstly, it outlines the historicalpolitical situation in which the relationship between enemy and adversary became an important factor. This had three elements: the unclear division between state and society, the dominance of party politics, and politics is a mediated politics in a general sense. Secondly, the essay presents the political theories which reflected on the situation, namely the concepts of Carl Schmitt, Reinhart Koselleck, Murray Edelman and Ernesto Laclau. Thirdly, the essay analyses some important elements of political practice, above all the status of enemy-construction in democratic political systems and its different discursive methods. Finally, it provides a short summary of the Hungarian situation after 1990, in which enemy construction served as a tool for the right wing to oust their political enemies from the nation, while the left wing, from the community of democracy.

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