Dear Colleague,

If we wish to give a name to what we do here, we may call it POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY: Bringing psychology to bear upon--interpret--that which occurs on the stage of society. 

Below are photos of one of the Founders of this discipline, Vamik Volkan. He had great success in the seventies and eighties. Some suggest that by virtue of his relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev (see photo below), the insights he conveyed to Gorbachev impacted on the fall of the Soviet Union.

Dr. Koenigsberg presented with Volkan at a meeting of ISPP when he put together a Panel, "Nationalism, War and Psychogeography." He spoke on "The Dream of Nationalism;" Volkan spoke on "Psychogeography and Borders." (Psychogeography is a discipline developed by the anthropologist, Howard F. Stein).

Now is the time for a resurgence of Political Psychology. It's clear, more than ever, that political ideas and actions in the political arena represent the projection and enactment of shared unconscious fantasies. 

It has become clear that the notion that political endeavors are governed by "rational choice" (once the dominant paradigm of political science) is gone--gone forever. 

Our IDEOLOGIES OF WAR, GENOCIDE AND TERROR website and LIBRARY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE NEWSLETTER--publish the best that has been thought and said on the sources and meanings of collective forms of violence.

Our Newsletter in the future will focus upon bringing dialogue to bear upon these issues--publishing ideas from some of the great minds of our time--thinking and reflecting together.

The Internet has speeded up change--allowing people throughout the world to bring their ideas and thoughts to impact reality. Through the LSS Newsletter, our understanding of the world will keep up with the pace of change.

Best regards,

Mary Helen

P. S. The LSS Newsletter reaches over 8000 scholars, professionals, publishers, public intellectuals and students around the world. More people read an article published here in one day--than read a typical journal article in its lifetime.