Politics on the Couch

This is an accessible, lucid and stimulating account of the hidden psychology of politics and the hidden politics of the psyche. It is packed with original and imaginative ideas on economics, nationalism, goodenough leadership, the citizen and the state, women and men, fatherhood, and the citizen as a therapist of the world.Andrew Samuels provocative ideas about the meshing of the internal and external life would be commonsense if they were not so rare. His emphasis on the citizen as well as the politician is an important contribution to thinking about politics today. I found his book moving, insightful, and optimistic. Former US Senator Bill BradleyThis highly original book refreshes our thinking on the meaning and possibilities in political life. Andrew Samuels invites us to investigate reasons why we denigrate not just our political leaders but also our own political selves and gives us potent ways to get out of the current malaise. Susie Orbach