Narratives, Ontological Security, and Unconscious Phantasy

Germany and the European Myth During the so‐called Migration Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID7971996
AuthorsC Nicolai L Gellwitzki (0000-0002-4961-624X, University of Warwick, corresponding author), Anne-Marie Houde (0000-0002-8200-734X, University of Warwick, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume44
Issue2
Pages435-451
Publication date2023-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12869
OpenAlexW4310047945
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited54

This article synthesizes scholarship on narratives and Kleinian defense mechanisms against anxiety to develop a framework that enables a nuanced understanding of ontological security‐seeking dynamics in times of crisis. Using the case study of the German narrative of the European Union during the so‐called migration crisis of 2015, this article engages with the broader question of how unconscious phantasy influences and guides decision‐making processes on a collective level as well as the question of how exactly narratives help subjects to manage anxiety to maintain a sense of ontological security. We show that, in the case of Germany, the EU offers a highly affective political myth that has guided both the decision‐making of the government during the crisis and the construction of German self‐identity narratives by attempting to introject the good part‐object of “Europeanness.” Crucially, German self‐identity narratives and narratives on the EU were not only inextricably linked but the EU also became an idealized (Kleinian) part‐object. During the so‐called migration crisis, this fostered processes of projective identification whereby decisions subverting European values and humanitarian narratives as well as general “badness” were externalized and projected onto other member states, most notably the Visegrád states

Aesthetics · Economics · European union · German · Identity (music · Linguistics · Mythology · Narrative · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Unconscious mind · European Union Policy and Governance · Global Security and Public Health · History · Philosophy · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology

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