The conjunction of politics and death can be conceptualized from their anthropological foundation and from their long-term developments, which tend to forge a common space. With modernity the promotion of life appears as a universal consensus, culminating in a systematic treatment of death. Three examples of how the political sphere uses death are developed in this paper. The first highlights the emphasis on life to transform death into an added source of existence. The second shows how honoring the dead epitomizes certain collective values thereby reinforcing social cohesion of the living. The third example explores how confrontation with death can be used to reinforce the legitimacy of political action. In each of these cases, the political sphere uses the strength of associations with death to its own benefit.