ABSTRACT
In politics C. G. Jung thought that archetypes had their strongest impact in social situations which exhibited acute emotion that triggered a corresponding archetypal configuration. Jung suggested that one of the first symptoms of archetypal influence on the political arena was the rise in psychological disruption. The first political archetypes to be considered are the 'immanent' archetypes derived from childhood that are in some way connected to the experience of paradise. Jung argued that the numinous effect of the archetypes accounted for the phenomenon of charisma in political attraction. The archetype of the hero is based on the need for the adolescent to mature and is heavily influenced by the role external models play in this process. The shadow is the archetype that has the most immediate political impact when it is projected on to other peoples or countries.
