Abstract
The intention of this article is to describe enemy relations in terms that suggest possibilities of moving beyond what we now experience as the all but universal phenomenon of enemy creation and perpetuation. It is not a comprehensive survey of theories of the nature and construction of the enemy. Depending on who one reads, enemy creation can result from: the evil nature of humans; an inborn destructive tendency that inevitably plagues our species; divine plans not fully fathomable by mortals; the structure of the state; the invention and perpetuation of private property; the peculiar nature of powerful and resilient collective phenomena like nationalism and religion; the tenacity of ethnic and national identities; a need for identification with a social-political unit larger than the self; tendencies to define the self in oppositional contrast with others; peculiar imperatives of the business of mass media; the need to avoid anarchy; the nature and dynamics of patriarchy; the historical social construction of masculinity across most societies; unconscious acting out of Oedipal and other universal inner conflicts; the fear of death and the consequent construction of society, ritual, and war to cope with that fear. And still others.