Politics, psychoanalysis, and large group identity

Abstract

Since Freud's contributions, psychoanalysis has devoted attention to group phenomena in the field of politics. Volkan and Kernberg stand out today for providing conceptual tools for analyzing political reality. Politicians' work has historically included a share of group manipulation, but today a strong trend towards populism is emerging from the right and the left. This offers a unique opportunity to examine in detail how leaders often promote primitive group dynamics, close to borderline personality organizations. The war in Ukraine offers an opportunity for a psychoanalytic exploration of unconscious conflicts. Some leaders' biographies and actions may offer clues, as well as group phenomena that express the need to protect a valuable identity. The current situation has generated an identity crisis in Europe and beyond. Autocratic tendencies have become stronger and we have lost leaders who sustained a more adult, less primitive European identity. The possible solutions lie in the abandonment of infantile maximalist positions and the adoption of a painful, frustrating, slow – and healthy – integrative attitude, perceiving nuances and shades of gray, both in our own group and in that which we consider Other. Psychoanalysis has the responsibility to put its knowledge at the service of society, also in politics.

Key words:

• politics
• large groups
• identity
• populism
• war

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres

Miguel Angel Gonzalez-Torres MD, PhD is Training Analyst at Centro Psicoanalítico de Madrid and member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS). He is also Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Basurto University Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry at the Department of Neuroscience in the University of the Basque Country. Principal Investigator of Basurto Hospital Research Group at CIBERSAM. He is Life Member of Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge. His main clinical and research interests correspond to Psychosis and Personality Disorders. He lives and works in Bilbao (Spain).