Friendship and the Political

This book reappraises the idea of "friendship" in contemporary political thought. Friendship was a central notion for the Ancients, being regarded as a political ideal to rank alongside justice. The author explores the possibilities for theorising friendship in modern times through an examination of three seminal thinkers: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Schmitt. He shows that friendship is a vital descriptive, analytic and normative idea in contemporary political thought. Concieved friendship denotes a concern with the bonds between person and person, thus identifying and valuing the horizontal moral and affective affinities that bind political communities.