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Fall 2001: Building The Internal Enemy
Introduction (PDF, 7 pages, 26.7 KB) , by Ayse Ceyhan & Gabriel Périés
The notion of internal enemy does not refer to a preexisting social reality, though the term is frequent in some political discourses. Rather, it allows giving a name to, and thereby constructing a everpresent enemy that would remain evanecent in a reafirmed political order. The authors show the importance of analysing the social uses of this notion. Indeed, constructing the figures of the enemy from within follows from games of positioning in specific fields. Transforming social groups into domestic enemies enable some political actors to put a mask on a crisis, to bypass or, on the contrary, to generate a crisis. In spite of the very wide heterogeneity of the interior enemy's faces, one ought to emphasise on the political transformations, the power effects and even the sometimes extreme violence this word generates.
The McCarthy case: a political and scientific construction (PDF, 20 pages, 62.6 KB) , by Yves Viltard
The figure of the internal enemy is at the heart of the political rhetoric and the manipulation of a symbolic register for partisan uses.Using this figure allows dramatising stakes, as well as discrediting political adversaries in some cases. Yves Viltard shows in this article that MacCartism illustrated this precise dimension of the construction of the enemy. But most of all he shows how some political and scientific constructions have favoured the emergence of the MacCarthy phenomenon even before the politician became successful. Thus, one must not simply refer to the political strategy of this politician and to the Cold War context. Indeed, one ought to replace the construction of the notion of the internal communist enemy in the context of the 'fifth column' discourse, very frequent since the 1930s, and in the context of the invention of the scientific notion of totalitarism assimilating fascism and communism.
The End of the 'Outside' : New Discursive Constructions of the Internal Enemy in California (PDF, 17 pages, 53.4 KB) , by by Ayse Ceyhan
Ayse Ceyhan spots the light on the dynamics that transform the immigré into the figure of internal enemy in California. In spite of this State's multiculturalism, contemporary transformations and notably the end of the "soviet enemy" threat have generated a search for internal enemies. This search cristalised on the figure on the migrant. While emphasizing on the steps for the construction of this specific interior enemy, the author shows that this discursive construction constitutes a symbolic resource for some actors in local political and bureaucratic battles. Ayse Ceyhan also shows how this construction raises questions of multiculturalism, of assimilation and of Welfare State in discourses.
From Body to Cancer. The Methaphorical Construction of the Internal Enemy in Cold War Military Discourse (PDF, 33 pages, 96.4 KB) , by Gabriel PéRiés
During the Cold War medical-surgical metaphors were omnipresent in the military discourses regarding revolutionary wars. Such metaphors allowed to simultaneously evoke the internal enemy, the militaries and the political community in the name of which the militaries intervene. Gabriel Périès operates a thorough analysis of these metaphores by emphasising their functionality for the militaries. These metaphores indeed provided the militaries a status enhancing image of scientists. This organistic metaphor showing a political body that would be attacked by the internal enemy virus also allowed justifying the inceasing military implication within the political sphere. This replaces the traditional military founding friend-enemy couple by the notion of friend-political body-enemy.
TThe internal Enemy and Extreme Violence : The USSR under Stalin and Maoist China (PDF, 13 pages, 43.4 KB) , by Roland Lew
This article by Roland Lew refers to the forms of extreme violence in maoist China and in the USSR, by exploring their relations to the notion of internal enemy. This violence came from the building of the internal enemy by leaving a large space to the arbitrary of power. According to this idea, the enemy had no clearly defined outlines and could litteraly be anyone. Such a status allowed to mask the stakes and the regimes' contradictions, by designating a scapegoat, notably when the official policy was erratic. Moreover, it created a social basis for the regime by showing those who were not allowed to be part of it and by illustrating the consequences of such an exclusion. Lew shows the dereasonable rationality of this figure of the enemy by going through its different images.
The banned and the Enemy. A Police Technique for Peace Keeping and Public Order (PDF, 16 pages, 53.5 KB) , by Fabien Jobard
Contemporary police practices are crossed by three trends : the inflation of the discourse on the internal enemy, the transformation of security practices and eventually, an epistemic change in the field of security, which tends to include a schmittian discourse. Does this mean that the enemy according to Carl Schmitt has become consubstantial of the new security paradigm with all it implies in terms of exceptional practices? After a sociological analysis of the police surveillance and repression practices, Fabien Jobard concludes that even if the law confers a certain liberty to State agents in terms of them defining the internal enemy, this liberty has nor the absolute value or the transcendence that is required by decision according to Carl Schmitt. Moreover, this phenomenon is not new. Thus, the internal enemy category in contemporary discourses ought not be assimilated to its substantial definition given by Schmitt.
Scotland. Old Nation, Young State, (PDF, 5 pages, 18.4 KB) , Review Essay by Dominique Roudot
Dominique Roudot analyses and presents Jacques Leruez's book by insisting on the importance to adopt a historical and political perspective for the analysis of contemporary Scotland. The evolutions of the former nation, which emancipated politically, are to be considered with regards to the contemporary reflections on "regions-nations".The increasing affirmation of the Scottish national feeling indeed accompanied the emergence of a new political space benefitting from a true autonomy and implying proper political actors.But it is still too early to talk about a "young State". The Scottish future indeed remains mainly dependent on London. Still, Scotland offers an emblematical example for the more general regionalisation phenomenon.