The Story
For thousands of years, political leaders have unified communities by aligning them against common enemies. However, today more than ever, the search for common enemies results in anything but unanimity. Scapegoats like Saddam Hussein, for example, led to a stark polarization in the United States. Renowned neuropsychiatrist and psychologist JeanMichel Oughourlian proposes that the only authentic enemy is the one responsible for both everyday frustrations and global dangers, such as climate changeourselves. Oughourlian, who pioneered an interdividual psychology with Ren Girard, reveals how all people are bound together in a dynamic, contingent process of imitation, and shows that the same patterns of irrational mimetic desire that bring individuals together and push them apart also explain the behavior of nations.
Description
For thousands of years, political leaders have unified communities by aligning them against common enemies. However, today more than ever, the search for common enemies results in anything but unanimity. Scapegoats like Saddam Hussein, for example, led to a stark polarization in the United States. Renowned neuropsychiatrist and psychologist JeanMichel Oughourlian proposes that the only authentic enemy is the one responsible for both everyday frustrations and global dangers, such as climate changeourselves. Oughourlian, who pioneered an interdividual psychology with Ren Girard, reveals how all people are bound together in a dynamic, contingent process of imitation, and shows that the same patterns of irrational mimetic desire that bring individuals together and push them apart also explain the behavior of nations.
