Democracy And Self-Organization: The Change Of Which Barack Obama Speaks [Paperback]

Robert Aziz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2008

In Democracy and Self-Organization, Robert Aziz draws on his depth understanding of human psychology and culture to provide us with unprecedented insight into the dynamics of meaning underlying Barack Obama's politics of change. Conclusions reached about our current cultural crisis of meaning in his previous work The Syndetic Paradigm (2007) form the basis of this incisive analysis. In Democracy and Self-Organization, carefully and systematically, directly and substantively connecting the profound leadership initiatives of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to his thesis, Robert Aziz convincingly situates the change of which Barack Obama speaks within the context of the now urgent demands of democratic culture's unfolding destiny.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Aziz Ph.D. is a psychoanalytical therapist in private practice, an executive mentor within the North American business sector, and has lectured on the psychology of the unconscious at two Canadian universities. He is a Clinical Member of the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists and a Full Member of the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Aziz was one of five subject experts invited by The Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education (Tokyo) to contribute a chapter to their commemorative publication Asian and Jungian Views of Ethics (1999). He is the author of C.G. Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity (1990) and The Syndetic Paradigm: The Untrodden Path Beyond Freud and Jung (2007), both academic publications of SUNY Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (September 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440419221
• ISBN-13: 978-1440419225
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,606,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meaning vs. Power - creating a true Democracy, November 25, 2008

By 

mjlm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Democracy And Self-Organization: The Change Of Which Barack Obama Speaks (Paperback)

This carefully written book is highly recommended for people who are dismayed at the great chasm between our ideal of what democracy should be and the flawed reality that we encounter every day. In "Democracy and Self-Organization: The Change of Which Barack Obama Speaks", Dr. Robert Aziz offers a powerful and insightful analysis of what needs to change for democracy to evolve into a truly meaningful form. Dr. Aziz not only provides a stimulating review of John F. Kennedy's and Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquent thoughts on democracy, freedom and justice, but persuasively demonstrates how Barack Obama's call for change extends the visions of these two great men. If the promise of Obama's historic election victory is to be truly realized we must all work to free our democratic process from the stranglehold of power dynamics and allow real meaning to guide us. For those committed to this task, there can be no better starting point than this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Aziz speaks of an existential approach to Obama, December 10, 2008

By 

P. Getz "MovingOnward" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Democracy And Self-Organization: The Change Of Which Barack Obama Speaks (Paperback)

Dr. Robert Aziz has written a book I had difficulty putting down. Democracy and Self Organization: The Change of Which Barack Obama Speaks is an insightful work in which Dr. Aziz gives us portions of speeches from John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Caroline Kennedy and Barack Obama. Each example furthers our understanding of his premise that Obama's "change" is process. And his process I liken to Existentialism. Heidegger spoke of man "pointing toward". Such pointing is process. Such process in the name of Democracy, it seems to me, is Egalitarianism. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and promptly purchased Barack's two books now that my appetite for learning more about this remarkable man has been whetted by Dr. Aziz. I will soon move on and read Dr. Aziz' other works. He is also a man in process.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Study of Barack Obama's Leadership Style, December 2, 2008

By 

Andrea McIntyre (Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Democracy And Self-Organization: The Change Of Which Barack Obama Speaks (Paperback)

In his impressive analysis of the leadership of President-elect Barack Obama, Dr. Robert Aziz explains we are at a turning point in history when "leadership in the new paradigm has to do with the empowerment of others." Drawing on the theoretical model of his previous book, The Syndetic Paradigm, Dr. Aziz demonstrates how the leadership style of President-elect Barack Obama aligns with the unique leadership needs of our age, stating that "ethical leadership knows that inclusivity and process are life's operant conditions." Finally, emphasizing the crucial importance that each person's humanity be free to develop as fully as possible, Dr. Aziz explains how individual and national destinies are inextricably intertwined, and concludes that "dissention and diversity are not the optional accessories of democratic process... they are the 'sine qua non' - the 'without which not' of its functional existence." This exceptional book convinces as no other I have read, evoking the very changes of which it speaks.

Andrea McIntyre