Psychoanalytic Essays on Power and Vulnerability

"This paper is based on research into European economics and politics on the basis of ten months travelling in ten countries, as well as on four workshops run in Europe. Two hypotheses will be explored: It is possible to discern psychodynamic evidence that unresolved humiliation trauma is being re-evoked and recycled by attempts to find solutions and cures through the tyranny of austerity measures. But the question will be asked whether these are “chosen trauma” (Volkan, 2010) which may be at the heart of the foundation matrix (Foulkes, 1973) of the European Community. The exploration of political and economic leadership in the crisis in the European Union builds on the notion of society as a large group proliferating crises of identity. From a systemic perspective it is possible to analyse the nation states of Europe protesting with regressive nationalism, refusing collaboration by engaging in economic warfare while at the same time attempting rescue packages. The protest could be seen as defensive denial of their humbling at the hands of the over-ambitious aspects of the European single currency project and the demise of the potency of the nation state. The concluding section reflects on these issues and tries to distinguish the recycling of humiliation trauma from defence against the experience of being humbled."

Table of Contents:
Note from the Editor -- Introduction -- Power and Vulnerability in Leadership and Organisations -- The relevance of early development to the psychodynamics of power and vulnerability -- Power and vulnerability in the board room: addressing fear and insecurity through dialogue and self-reflection -- The power of envy: a poison for workplace and organisational life -- Who is the boss? Balancing power and vulnerability in the client–consultant relationship -- “Surely this can’t be true?” Unexamined relations of power in the care of vulnerable people -- Power and Vulnerability in the Political Arena -- Inspirational leadership: Hitler and Gandhi—avoiding the corrosive power of corruption -- Power in the face of vulnerability: the Norwegian experience -- The US Navy SEAL culture: power, vulnerability, and challenge* -- An inversion of power: an analysis of the British riots of 2011 -- Poland: a case of powerful recovery from vulnerability -- The Power and Vulnerability of Global Finance -- The vulnerability of the European nation state and its citizens in a time of humbling -- The power of symbols, vulnerability of trust, and securitisation -- A culture of mania: a psychoanalytic view of the incubation of the 2008 credit crisis*,† -- Concluding Remarks

About the Author :
Halina Brunning is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach. She has worked in the British and Polish National Health Services as a psychologist, therapist, manager and consultant and published extensively on clinical and organizational issues Her books include 'Executive Coaching: Systems-Psychodynamic Perspective' and 'Psychoanalytic Perspectives on a Turbulent World'. Halina currently works as a freelance coach and consultant and runs her own international coaching practice in Europe. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations, OPUS, Association of Coaching and founder member of the Coaching Psychology Forum.