Usefulness
Using a common enemy as the basis for an allegiance is problematic unless there are other substantial areas for common ground, otherwise absent the common enemy the friends might well be enemies themselves. If the common enemy disappears, the allies might turn on each other. This has been shown before, such as at the end of World War II; without a common enemy, the differences between the United States, the United Kingdom and France and their Soviet allies were no longer accepted because the threat they shared was absent. Cartoonist Howard Tayler, using humor toward social critique, condenses the concept into 'Maxim 29', "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less."
Sometimes two hostile parties may remain hostile even in the face of a third party hostile to both for example, in the opening stages of the portions of the Bosnian War of the 1990s could be described as a "three-cornered" conflict with Croat, Bosniak and Serb forces all fighting one another. In extremely rare cases, a conflict might be between four parties or more.
On the other hand, if parties that share common ground in other areas later find the need to ally against a common enemy, the ensuing alliance might endure even after the threat disappears such examples might be the states that formed the USA.
Read more about this topic: The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend
Famous quotes containing the word usefulness:
“This monument, so imposing and tasteful, fittingly typifies the grand and symmetrical character of him in whose honor it has been builded. His was “the arduous greatness of things done.” No friendly hands constructed and placed for his ambition a ladder upon which he might climb. His own brave hands framed and nailed the cleats upon which he climbed to the heights of public usefulness and fame.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“There has been and always will be plenty of arguments about the usefulness and harm of the spreading of the Bible. In my view the Bible will continue to cause harm when used in a dogmatic and fantastic manner; it will do good when used for didactic purposes and with sensitivity.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“This monument, so imposing and tasteful, fittingly typifies the grand and symmetrical character of him in whose honor it has been builded. His was “the arduous greatness of things done.” No friendly hands constructed and placed for his ambition a ladder upon which he might climb. His own brave hands framed and nailed the cleats upon which he climbed to the heights of public usefulness and fame.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)