This book is an heroic effort to extend classical psychoanalytic principles to the hazy world of international relationships. Volkan makes extensive use of clinical vignettes from his own practice. These vignettes, or rather the dynamics illustrated, are then extended to discuss how conflicts between large groups, even nations, come about and how a psychoanalytic understanding can be helpful in resolving burgeoning hostilities including war. To this end he furnishes copious examples of his own experiences in the Turk-Greek difficulties in his native Cyprus as well as more global instances.

The theme throughout is not grandiose. He does not suppose that either psychiatric or psychological knowledge can directly solve global problems of hostility, group paranoia, or war. Rather the book is carefully structured to show that dynamic knowledge can be used by participant observers who have such