The Impact of Volkan’s Work in the Middle East

For many years I have been a great admirer of the work of Professor Vamık Volkan and am therefore privileged to write this short essay about it. Volkan has made many unique contributions to peace studies, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, political psychology, and conflict prevention/resolution. Being an Israeli analyst, I want to focus on the contribution of one of the main areas of his work: large-group conflicts and their resolution, to our area in the Middle East.

I first met Dr. Volkan at a conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. The topic of the conference was The End of Silence, and it focused on the impact of the Holocaust on survivors and their offspring. He was invited to deal with the tension that had arisen between the Jewish and non-Jewish organizers of the conference.

Volkan, a Muslim of Turkish origin born in Cyprus, became the beloved “father” of the above Jewish and non-Jewish “family.” The sensitivity and skill with which he handled the wounds inflicted on both sides by the traumatic Holocaust past, his knowledge of psychoanalysis, and his empathic abilities and modesty transformed a situation pregnant with tension and animosity into a cooperative and creative dialogue. This dialogue facilitated working through the different feelings connected to the Holocaust among the organizers as well as among the conference participants, thus creating the hope for a future devoid of such world catastrophes.

Over the past three decades, Volkan has been involved in the most pressing sociopolitical conflicts. His work is exceptional in that it views these conflicts through a psychoanalytic lens. His vast experience in this area, as well as his ability to convey complex psychological thoughts in a way understood by all, makes him unique in this realm. He began work on large-group conflicts and their leaders after then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic 1977 address to the Israeli Knesset declaring that 70% of the prob-

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lems between Arabs and Israelis were psychological. Subsequently, from 1980 to 1986, Volkan was a participant in an unofficial series of Arab-Israeli dialogues sponsored by the American Psychiatric Association.

As a result of his work in various countries, Volkan has developed methods of unofficial diplomacy, which include a psychopolitical assessment of the conflict, psychopolitical dialogues among high-level representatives, and the application of what was learned from these dialogues to institutionalized peaceful coexistence. He believes that his methods can be applied to different groups in conflict, and I hope this will include the Middle East.

In 2000, Volkan was appointed Inaugural Rabin Fellow and spent a year at the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel-Aviv, Israel. At a time of increasing threat to Israel’s security and hostilities, which could have affected the entire Middle East, Volkan’s contribution was relevant, timely and urgently needed.

During his work in Israel as a specialist in international relations, he explored the ethnic violence reigning in our area. He showed how our personal identities intertwine with our nationality, thus giving us insight into why hatred of others becomes our sense of self. In his research, he suggested that the creation of social and political enemies, as well as friends, is a central part of human development. He argues that one needs enemies in order to define one’s self-representations as well as the representations of one’s large-group identities. Enemies who attack us or in some way harm us are real, but an element of fantasy is also always present. Professor Volkan has provided both politicians and mental health professionals with an understanding of “normal” prejudice and its potential on the individual and the group level, for becoming irrational, consuming, and deadly.

Volkan’s important work in the Middle East helped us understand how ethnic pride is transformed into violence against the other. His work laid the foundation for analyzing and understanding the differences that exist between Jews and Arabs, as well as the common ground they share, thus providing tools for searching for solutions to the conflict. His vision of peaceful co-existence between enemies, his faith in peoples’ wisdom and courage, give us

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hope that the animosity in the area can be mitigated and the bloodshed stopped.

Dr. Volkan calls for the application of psychological insight in dealing with conflict. I hope that those involved in proposing and implementing political solutions in the Middle East read the books he has written to advance peaceful solutions. Vamık Volkan’s work is a great contribution to peace in our area and in the world as a whole.

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