Carl Schmitt understands politics as the decision of the sovereign regarding the state of exception. A decision that always poses the same question: friend or foe? Hannah Arendt, on the other hand, has a different perspective. Arendt views politics as the collective action of people in a public space. Nevertheless, Philipp zum Kolk attempts to find commonalities. Arendt develops her understanding of politics through her engagement with exceptional situations such as totalitarianism or the American Revolution. Both thinkers also seem to have a similar understanding of the relationship between politics and the state. Schmitt's concept of politics is directed against the state, and Arendt also conceives of politics as a sphere independent of the state.