For Goodness Sake

Coline Covington, PhD, BPC received her BA in Political Philosophy from Princeton and then moved to the UK where she received her Diploma in Criminology from Cambridge and her PhD in Sociology from LSE. She worked for nearly ten years as a consultant with criminal justice agencies throughout England and set up the first UK mediation project between victims and juvenile offenders with the Metropolitan Police in London.Coline is a Training Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology and the British Psychotherapy Foundation and former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council. She is a Fellow of International Dialogue Initiative (IDI), a think tank formed by Professor Vamık Volkan, Lord Alderdice, and Dr Robi Friedman to apply psychoanalytic concepts in resolving political conflict.From 2011 to 2013, Coline was Visiting Research Fellow in International Politics and Development at the Open University and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.Coline’s publications include Terrorism and War: Unconscious Dynamics of Political Violence (Karnac, 2002), Shrinking the News: Headline Stories on the Couch (Karnac, 2014), Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis (2nd edition, Routledge, 2015), and Everyday Evils: A Psychoanalytic View of Evil and Morality (Routledge, 2017).Coline is in private practice in London.

• About the authorPrefaceIntroductionCHAPTER ONEIdentity and what it means to be true to oneselfCHAPTER TWONo choice but to act: the role of self-agency in braveryCHAPTER THREEThe good citizen: traditions of bravery and dissent from Plato to the presentCHAPTER FOURMy country, my self: separation, identity and dissonanceCHAPTER FIVEPatriotism: living and dying for one’s countryCHAPTER SIXDefying mortality: the shadow of braveryCHAPTER SEVENBelief and dissent: whistle blowers, conscientious objectors, and saying noCHAPTER EIGHTBraving the new: the struggle from loss to agencyEpilogueIndex

Coline Covington brings wisdom and fresh insights into a study of the question of identity, which has become, with the retreat of ideological politics, one of the most important factors in international affairs. She is fascinating in her discussion of the relationships between nationalism and patriotism and of courage – both physical and mental – with the wider question of identity. This is a relevant and thought-provoking book which looks beyond the familiar arguments about nation states and globalization.