ABSTRACT

Andrew Samuels has established an international practice as a political consultant, working with senior politicians, political parties and activist groups. His lectures and workshops on the application of 'therapy thinking' to social and political issues attract wide interest. His previous books in this area, such as The Political Psyche and Politics on the Couch, have been widely appreciated. Now, in a long-anticipated tour-de-force that is both compassionate and intellectually stimulating, this book deepens in a new and innovate style his engagement with themes such as economics, ecopsychology, leadership, aggression and violence, the role of the individual in progressive politics, and sexuality and spirituality in political contexts. The reader is encouraged to move beyond conventional professional or academic discourse by the inclusion of experiential exercises in the text. In this way, activism and analysis, public and private, therapeutic and more-than-personal are all brought together in a satisfying yet challenging synthesis.

chapter Two|13 pages

Aggression and leadership

chapter Three|16 pages

The economic psyche

chapter Four|22 pages

Against nature*

chapter Seven|14 pages

Political anatomy of spirituality

chapter Eight|6 pages

The fascinations of fundamentalism

chapter Nine|18 pages

The plural father*

chapter Ten|7 pages

First catch your child

(With apologies to Mrs. Beeton, who began her recipe for jugged hare with the exhortation "First, catch your hare".)