Greece's Split Identity

A study of concrete forms of democracy must reflect the peculiarities of each country. This is only possible if one focuses on the historical background, which has led to the formation of a certain collective identity. But such an approach always presupposes an understanding of identity formation processes and here psychoanalysis is of great importance. As Freud points out in Group Psychology and the Analysis of Ego, the relation between subject and other is of a twofold nature: the other is either an object of desire or an object of identification. Originally the subject has no “identity”; it acquires one by identifying itself with the other. This process begins very early in childhood and provides the matrix for all further identifications in maturity. In that sense, “identity” just means the “sum” of past identifications of the speaking subject, down to the present moment. In most cases, identification is a partial identification with the “peculiar feature” of a beloved or hatred and feared person (originally the parents). This partial nature indicates the symbolic element in each identification, which always has a metaphorical character: one is like the other. Thus mimesis is revealed as a consequence of identification with somebody.

But identification takes place simultaneously on more than one register: not only on the symbolic plane, mediated through signs or symbols, but also on the imaginary level, through the submission to the image of the other (see Lacan, Ecrits). This second case is more problematic, because the subject thus satisfies its narcissism—its fantasies of omnipotence and perfection—through identification with somebody who supposedly owns these properties. These fantasies thus aim to provide a strong real enjoyment. Freud gives several examples of imaginary identifications including, group formation, enamoration (falling in love), and hypnosis (Group Psychology).

An inevitable consequence of imaginary identification is the closure of the ego tow