Concept of the enemy: an intersection of criminal policy, neoliberal governmentality, and the human drive

Vívian Farias Lobato; Marcus Alan de Melo Gomes

doi:10.5020/2317-2150.2026.17138

Authors

Vívian Farias Lobato Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4267-041X
Marcus Alan de Melo Gomes Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3699-5164

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2026.17138

Keywords:

enemy, criminal policy, politics of enmity, necropolitics

Abstract

This article examines the concept of the enemy, understood as a narrative that legitimizes the exercise of criminal policy, from three perspectives: criminological, political, and psychic. It seeks to understand how this concept is employed in contemporary contexts, arguing that it is a construct arising not only from legal norms but also from power dynamics inherent to neoliberal governmentality. Operating through necropolitics, this construct functions selectively, promoting the exclusion of marginalized populations within the Brazilian context, which is marked by a colonial and racist legacy. The analysis highlights how this notion of the enemy has been constructed and progressively consolidated through an interdisciplinary process in which it is legally codified, politically administered, and psychically constituted.

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Translation

This article is a translation in English of the article: Conceito de inimigo: uma intersecção entre a política criminal, a governamentalidade neoliberal e a pulsão humana

Author Biographies

Vívian Farias Lobato, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

Master’s student in Law in the Graduate Program in Law at the Federal University of Pará, with a postgraduate specialization in Civil Procedural Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and a bachelor’s degree in Law from the Federal University of Pará. Legal Analyst at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Pará and member of the Corpo Freudiano, Belém Section.

Marcus Alan de Melo Gomes, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

PhD and master’s degree in Social Relations Law, with a concentration in Criminal Law, from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Associate Professor, Level 4, at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Permanent faculty member of the Graduate Program in Law at UFPA. Member of the Criminal Law and Criminology Research Group of the Center for Legal, Economic, International, and Environmental Studies (CEJEIA) at Lusíada University of Porto. Visiting Scholar at Durham University, England (Durham Law School), in 2015. Senior Visiting Professor at the University of Porto and Lusíada University of Porto in 2019, with a fellowship awarded under the National Program for Academic Cooperation in the Amazon (PROCAD Amazônia/CAPES). Visiting Researcher at the University of Valladolid in 2019. Judge of the 9th Criminal Court of Belém.

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