ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the works of Carl Schmitt and Hannah Arendt and considers their positions as polar opposites in the political realm. Concerning the concept of politics and policy, Arendt and Schmitt exhibit the biggest differences. While Arendt attempted to define politics in the context of terms such as joint action, freedom, plurality, and compromise, the criterion of the political was, for Schmitt, his world-renowned distinction between friend and foe. In their polarity, Schmitt and Arendt find themselves in a long history of political ideas. Conflict over power and rule on one side, joint action and arrival at consensus are the two opposing essential determinations of politics that pull through the history of political ideas. Schmitt's differentiation indicates the "existential reason" of all political action, the unpredictability of human nature, and the antagonism of power always emerge a new in every society. A major problem in Schmitt's conception turns out to be fruitful for Arendt's definition of the political.
