Ethics, Politics, and Modern Democracies

Ethics, politics and modern democracies
Judaism and Political Theology
In Carl Schmitt‘s book The Concept of the Political, the author highlighted how power influence relations between individuals and various groups that are not governed by justice and solidarity, but rather self-interests (20). Additionally, political inquiry is unrelated to the ethical, economics, religious, scientific and other contrasting spheres of life. Social scientists use structure to analyze various roles in a society and the distinction between a friend and enemy is one such structure in political matters. Carl Schmitt further focused on realism where the difference between “we” and “them” is consistent with the friendly- enemy structure, and politics then depends on creating friends and foes, which then help to impose order. Schmitt downplays the role of ethics in politics even when this can enhance relations.[Carl Schmitt, The Concept Of The Political (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 20.]
The friend/ enemy division captures the nature of politics when there is competitiveness and even goals are achieved through power. In political communities, political equality is associated with a sense of belonging where there are no distinctions among people. In pluralistic societies where there is open democracy, there is a battle of ideas, but this does not necessarily mean that people use coercive power to get what people need. As such, even ethics are relevant in politics despite Schmitt trying to make a distinction between the two and showing that they are incompatible. Even as Schmitt was worried about the likelihood of civil wars he ignored how integrating ethics and morality in politics would influence how people behaved. Schmitt mainly focused on public enemies and friends and an enemy causes extreme antagonism, but the author accepts that moral order is necessary even when separate from politics.[James M Jasper,˜Theœ Art of Moral Protest Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements. (Chicago University of Chicago Press 2008), 10.] [Chantal Mouffe, The Return of the Political (London: Verso, 2005), 129]
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