Why does Thomas Madden say losing an existential enemy weakened Rome?

Thomas Madden argues that republics run on competing groups, and fear of an outside enemy keeps that competition from turning destructive. When Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, nothing could threaten it militarily, so Romans began treating their rivals in the Forum as the enemy. He dates Rome's hyper-partisanship from that year and says the US has been in a similar position since the Soviet Union fell.

• Madden said the Roman historian Sallust wrote that fear of enemies kept the republic strong.
• Madden pointed to the unity after 9/11, which followed the bitter 2000 election and lasted about three years.
• Madden said Rome is the only republic in history that reached a position with no real outside threat.

▸In their words

“without an existential enemy, I mean a real enemy, the Republican system in the case of Rome was severely strained.” Thomas Madden · at 1:12:39 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

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