| Summary/Abstract |
The current international arena is not only different from that of the Cold War and its immediate aftermath, but even from what has existed in Europe since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. At that time, there was multipolarity, at least in the context of Europe. Alliances were built and changed, but they were fixed; “marriage” with one group excluded relationships with another. Foes were clearly demarcated from friends, and these clear divisions were what made it possible for Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), the seminal German geopolitician, to proclaim it was the existence of a clear foe that defined national identity.
|