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The Editor of The Psychoanalytic Review, Michael Eigen, provides a brief introduction to this issue with “Notes on the History of The Psychoanalytic Review.”
Generally, politics is defined as the science of government or the policies and aims of a government, of a nation, or of a state (New Webster's Dictionary, ). Specifically, it may also be seen as “the plotting or scheming of those seeking personal power, glory, position, or the like” (New Webster's Dictionary, ).
For the purposes of this special edition of The Psychoanalytic Review, the concept of “politics” is considered as “the abuse of power.” This can take place in social structures and, as such, be understood from a psychoanalytic perspective. It can also take place in psychoanalytic organizations as well as in the analytic process.
This issue of the Review attempts to provide a picture of how politics is pervasive in psychoanalytic organizations as well as in the analytic room. In this regard, we assume a particular ethic as analysts; we assume an ethic of “goodness” and an attempt to understand when and why this ethic fails. We can then see how the abuse of power conflicts with the central ethic of psychoanalysis.