Enemy of the state

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An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state, such as treason. Describing individuals in this way is sometimes a manifestation of political repression. For example, an authoritarian regime may purport to maintain national security by describing social or political dissidents as "enemies of the state". In other cases, the individual in question may have legitimately endangered the country and/or its population. For example, a double agent selling military or intelligence secrets could undermine a nation's security, and could therefore be considered an enemy not of just a person or entity within a state, but the state itself and all entities therein.

Examples

• Proscription in Ancient Rome
• The term Enemy of the people in the Soviet Union during the period of Stalinism.
• The fictional character Emmanuel Goldstein in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

See also

• Public enemy

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