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((short description|Ancient proverb))
((Refimprove|date=November 2014)) 
((weasel|date=December 2021)) 
"'''The enemy of my enemy is my friend'''" is an ancient [[proverb]] which suggests that two [[wiktionary:party|parties]] can or should work together against a common enemy. The exact meaning of the modern phrase was first expressed in the [[Latin]] phrase "Amicus meus, inimicus inimici mei" ("my friend, the enemy of my enemy"), which had become common throughout [[Europe]] by the early 18th century, while the first recorded use of the current English version came in 1884.<ref>((cite web|last=Wickman |first=Forrest |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/05/16/star_trek_into_darkness_fact_checked_was_the_enemy_of_my_enemy_guy_really.html |title=Star Trek Into Darkness, fact-checked: Was the "Enemy of My Enemy" guy really killed by his friend? |publisher=Slate.com |date=2013-05-16 |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref>

==Examples==
===Rajamandala===
A [[Sanskrit]] treatise on [[Power (international relations)|statecraft]], the ''[[Arthashastra]]'' of [[Chanakya|Kautilya]] states:<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/kautilya/book06.htm |title=Project South Asia |publisher=Columbia.edu |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref>

((quote|The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror's territory is termed the enemy.<br>The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).|Kautilya|Arthasastra))

A neighboring power would be the first to dispute control of territory, and therefore Kautilya finds neighboring kings to be natural enemies of any conqueror. A king whose territories border those of the enemy would also have this relationship with them, and therefore be a natural ally. This system of relationships was termed [[Rajamandala]] (meaning ''circle of kings'') and informed the [[foreign policy]] of [[Maurya Empire| Chandragupta's Empire]]. This early theory of [[geopolitics]] is still recognized today as the ''Mandala theory'' of foreign relations.<ref>((cite journal |last1=Boesche |first1=Roger |title=Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India |journal=The Journal of Military History |date=2003 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=9–37 |id=((Project MUSE|40432)) |doi=10.1353/jmh.2003.0006 |s2cid=154243517 |doi-access=free ))</ref>

===World War II===
[[File:Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Allies of World War II]] at the [[Yalta Conference]]: [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Joseph Stalin]], 1945]]
The idea that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" functioned in various guises as foreign policy by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] during [[World War II]]. In Europe, tension was common between the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. Despite their inherent differences, they recognized a need to work together to meet the threat of [[Nazi]] aggression under the leadership of [[Adolf Hitler]]. Both [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] were wary of the [[Soviet Union]] under the leadership of [[Joseph Stalin]]. However, both developed policies with an understanding that Soviet cooperation was necessary for the Allied war effort to succeed.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_6/stefan.html |title=Stefan&#124;Roosevelt & Stalin |publisher=Unc.edu |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref> There is a [[wikiquote: Winston Churchill|quote from Winston Churchill]] made to his personal secretary [[Jock Colville|John Colville]] on the eve of Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union ([[Operation Barbarossa]]). He was quoted as saying, "if Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons."<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/collections/churchill_papers/biography/ |title=Sir Winston Churchill: A biography – Churchill College |publisher=Chu.cam.ac.uk |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref> The Soviet leader reciprocated these feelings towards his Western allies. He was distrustful and feared that they would negotiate a [[separate peace]] with [[Nazi Germany]]. However, he also viewed their assistance as critical in resisting the Nazi invasion.<ref>((cite book|last1=Kenez|first1=Peter|title=A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521682961|edition=2nd))</ref>((Page needed|date=April 2017))

The doctrine of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" was employed by nation states in regions outside of the European theater as well. In the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], within the [[Pacific War|Pacific theater]], an alliance was formed between [[Communist Party of China|Chinese Communists]] and [[Kuomintang|Chinese Nationalists]]. Leading up to this, these forces had battled each other throughout the [[Chinese Civil War]]. However, they formed an alliance, the [[Second United Front]] in response to the mutual threat of [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] aggression.<ref>((cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/prc-civil.htm |title=Chinese Civil War |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref> Similarly, the [[Malayan Communist Party]] and the [[British Empire]] agreed a truce for the [[Malayan Campaign]] and subsequent [[Japanese occupation of Malaya|Japanese Occupation]].

===Cold War===
The doctrine was also used extensively during the [[Cold War]] between [[Western Bloc]] nations and the Soviet Union. The Soviets and the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] aided [[North Korea]] during the [[Korean War]] as well as the [[Viet Cong]]/[[North Vietnam]]ese during the [[Vietnam War]] to oppose American foreign policy goals.<ref>((cite web|url=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/15388_vietnam.html |title=Moscow on situation around Iraq – PravdaReport |publisher=English.pravda.ru |date=2002-08-07 |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref>((clarify|date=December 2014)) Likewise, the United States and its allies supported the [[Afghan Mujahideen]] after the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion]] in the hopes of thwarting the spread of Communism.((cn|date=December 2021)) In the [[Third World]], both superpowers supported regimes whose values were at odds with the ideals espoused by their governments. These ideals were [[capitalism]] and [[liberal democracy]] in the case of the United States, and the [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] interpretation of [[Communism]] and [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|proletarian democracy]] in the case of the Soviet Union. In order to oppose the spread of Communism, the United States government supported dictatorial regimes, such as [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] in [[Zaire]], [[Suharto]] in [[Indonesia]], and [[Augusto Pinochet]] in [[Chile]].<ref>((cite web |url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/090897obit-mobutu.html |title=Mobutu Sese Seko, 66, Longtime Dictator of Zaire |work=New York Times |date=1997-09-08 |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref><ref>((cite news |last=Bevins |first=Vincent |date=October 20, 2017 |title=What the United States Did in Indonesia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/the-indonesia-documents-and-the-us-agenda/543534/|work=The Atlantic|access-date=October 21, 2017))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/42a/127.html |title=Still Hidden: A Full Record Of What the U.S. Did in Chile |publisher=Hartford-hwp.com |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref>

The support provided by the Soviet Union towards nations with overtly anti-Communist governments, such as [[Gamal Abdul Nasser]] in [[Egypt]], in order to oppose American influence, is another example of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as policy on an international scale.<ref>((cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894492,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204203908/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894492,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2011 |title=Middle East: Anti-Communist Rally |magazine=Time |date=1961-06-23 |access-date=2017-04-20))</ref> The Soviets also backed [[India]] to counter both the pro-American [[Pakistan]]i government and the People's Republic of China (following the [[Sino-Soviet split]]), despite the fact that India had a democratic government.((citation needed|date=December 2014)) Similarly, China, following the split, lent support to nations and factions that embraced an anti-Soviet, often Maoist form of Communism, but whose governments nonetheless embraced [[Sinophobia|Sinophobic]] policies at home, such as the [[Khmer Rouge]]-ruled regime of [[Democratic Kampuchea]].((citation needed|date=December 2014))

===Middle East===
In an example of this doctrine at work in Middle Eastern foreign policy, United States backed the Iraqi government under [[Saddam Hussein]] during the [[Iran–Iraq War]], as a strategic response to the anti-American [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979.<ref>((cite news|last=Stuever |first=Hank |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A52241-2002Dec29&notFound=true |title=Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2017-04-20))((dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic))((cbignore|bot=medic))</ref> A 2001 study of international relations in the Middle East used the proverb as the basis of its main thesis, examining how enmity between adverse nations evolve and alliances develop in response to common threats.<ref>((cite web |url=http://soc.haifa.ac.il/~talmud/pdf/Enemy.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-10-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807212443/http://soc.haifa.ac.il/~talmud/pdf/Enemy.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-07 ))</ref>

==Balance theory==
((Main|Balance theory))
In [[mathematical sociology]] a [[signed graph]] may be used to represent a [[social network]] that may or may not be '''balanced''', depending upon the signs found along [[cycle (graph theory)|cycle]]s. [[Fritz Heider]] considered a pair of friends with a common enemy as a balanced triangle. The full spectrum of changes induced by unbalanced networks was described by [[Anatol Rapoport]]:
:The hypothesis implies roughly that attitudes of the group members will tend to change in such a way that one's friends' friends will tend to become one's friends and one's enemies' enemies also one's friends, and one's enemies' friends and one's friends' enemies will tend to become one's enemies, and moreover, that these changes tend to operate even across several removes (one's friends' friends' enemies' enemies tend become friends by an iterative process).<ref>[[Anatol Rapoport]] (1963) "Mathematical models of social interaction", in ''Handbook of Mathematical Sociology'', v. 2, pp 493–580, especially 541, editors: R.A. Galanter, R.R. Lace, E. Bush, [[John Wiley & Sons]]</ref>

[[Frank Harary]] described how balance theory can predict [[coalition]] formation in [[international relations]]:<ref>((cite journal |last1=Harary |first1=Frank |title=A structural analysis of the situation in the Middle East in 1956 |journal=Journal of Conflict Resolution |date=June 1961 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=167–178 |doi=10.1177/002200276100500204 |hdl=2027.42/67336 |s2cid=73620214 |hdl-access=free ))</ref>
:One can draw the signed graph of a given state of events and examine it for balance. If it is balanced there will be a tendency for the status quo. If it is not balanced, one should question each of the bonds between pairs of nations in a cycle with regard to relative strength in the situation. One might then predict that the weakest such bond will change sign.

Harary illustrated the method as a gloss on some events in the Middle East using several signed graphs, one of which represented eight nations.

==In popular culture==
In ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' season 2, episode 2, Danny Farrell was a paperboy who remarkably became the enemy of every woman on [[Wisteria Lane]]. If there was a puddle on someone’s property, he found it. If a new rose bush had just been planted, he destroyed it. If a cat was enjoying a moment in the sun, he ended it. After verbally accosting [[Susan Mayer]] one day, he was thrown from his bicycle when she hurled her paper through his spokes. When the women of Wisteria Lane witnessed this, [[Mary Alice Young]] remarks, “Yes, the women of Wisteria Lane believed Danny Farrell to be the enemy. They also believed the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as Ida Greenberg flashes Susan a thumbs up. 

In ''[[The Office (American TV series)|The Office]]'' [[The Office (American season 6)|season six]] episode "[[Koi Pond (The Office)|Koi Pond]]", [[Dwight Schrute]] has a line that causes an [[infinite loop]] of contradictions: "[[Jim Halpert|Jim]] is my enemy. But it turns out that Jim is also his own worst enemy. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So Jim, is actually my friend. But, because he is his own worst enemy, the enemy of my friend is my enemy so actually Jim is my enemy. But..." and he got stuck in the loop until he realized to get out.<ref>((Cite web |last=Marsi |first=Steve |date=2009-10-30 |title=Jim is my enemy. But it turns out that Jim is also his own worst... |url=https://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/jim-is-my-enemy-but-it-turns-out-that-jim-is-also-his-own-worst/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=TV Fanatic |language=en))</ref>

In "[[Face Off (Breaking Bad)|Face Off]]", the [[Breaking Bad (season 4)|season four]] finale of AMC crime drama ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', [[Walter White (Breaking Bad)|Walter White]] works with [[Hector Salamanca]], a member of the rival Salamanca crime family, to kill drug lord [[Gus Fring|Gustavo Fring]], an enemy common to both of them.

In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the character Wrex says that his people have a saying: "Seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend".

In ''[[Alien vs. Predator (film)|Alien vs Predator]]'', archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa says the line when he and Lex Woods learn about the conflict between the [[Predator (fictional species)|Predators]] and [[Xenomorph|Aliens]] and decide to help the Predators destroy the Aliens in order to stop them from escaping the underground pyramid.

In ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction]]'', Harold Attinger says the line during last meeting with Lockdown on his ship.

In ''[[Star Trek Into Darkness]]'', Kirk says the line when he's planning to team up with Khan to defeat Admiral Marcus, a common enemy who kept Khan's crew captive to coerce Khan into building weapons for him and threatened to destroy Kirk's crew after Kirk discovers his conspiracy and rebels against him.

In Season 1, Episode 6 of "[[Ahsoka (TV series)|Ahsoka]]", Baylan Skoll says to his trainee, Shin Hati, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. At least for now." After spotting bandits on a nearby ridge, overlooking a recent skirmish.

In the 16th campaign mission of the video game ''[[Modern Warfare 2]]'', Captain John Price contacts mercenary terrorist Vladimir Makarov, references the adage to extract information as to the whereabouts of their common enemy, the (hidden antagonist) General Shepherd.

==See also==
*[[Frenemy]]
*[[You're either with us, or against us]]
*[[Law of excluded middle]]
*[[Lesser of two evils principle]]
*[[Unholy alliance (geopolitical)]]

==References==
((reflist))

((DEFAULTSORT:Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend))
[[Category:Adages]]
[[Category:International relations]]
[[Category:Proverbs]]
[[Category:Friendship]]
[[Category:Interpersonal relationships]]
[[Category:Political terminology]]
[[Category:Power (social and political) concepts]]

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