Reported by Salsabila Andiana
[Unpad Media Channel] The Faculty of Psychology from Universitas Padjadjaran organizes a public lecture titled “The Current Situation of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict: From the Perspective of Political Psychology” in hybrid from the Dissertation Defense Room in Building 1, Faculty of Psychology Unpad, Jatinangor, Sumedang, Tuesday (21/5/2024).
Ambassador Nadjib Riphat Kesoema presents the public lecture. He is a former Ambassador of Indonesia, and one of them is to EU, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The event is opened by the Coordinator of the Political Psychology Course of the Faculty of Psychology from Unpad, Dr. Zainal Abidin, M.Si.
In his opening speech, Zainal said that the public lecture has been held regularly for the last four years.
“Recently, last year, we started to invite experts, one of whom is related to international policy,” he said.
Moreover, Ambassador Nadjib, an alumnus of the Faculty of Psychology at Unpad, delivers a presentation regarding the conflict between Israel and Palestine from the perspective of political psychology and historical record.
“Lately, I think this (Israel-Palestinian conflict) is a big issue, a humanitarian issue that we face. This is not a minor issue anymore,” he emphasized.
The Ambassador, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees from Unpad, explained that the political psychology approach could be in analyzing conflict and creating peace through the study of personality that is focused on the effect of leadership and key person personality on decision-making, also the consequence from mass personality on leadership boundaries.
Furthermore, the analyses can be conducted through the key personality approaches in political psychology.
Nadjib explained that political psychology is about explaining political behavior, ranging from familiar political behavior to seemingly inconceivable behavior.
In political psychology, personality is owned not only by an individual but also by every nation. Every person shows national character, but the most visible character is the key person or leader of the country.
“Those people (key person and leader) will present the mass personality as the personality for the society,” he explained.
Furthermore, there is a shared belief in personality traits typical to people of a particular nation, called national character, national stereotype, or even national personality. A country, even a tribe, has a specific stereotype.
“It (national stereotype) is a character description,” he added.
A collective politicized identity approach is needed in analyzing a conflict. Collective politicized identity is a political psychology approach that is linked to three conceptual themes, namely collective identity (name given to something or someone), power struggle (a struggle to achieve power), and the complexity of the social and humanitarian context, which is broader than just the power struggle.
“From every approach, many theories of psychological politics can be used in approaching this conflict (Israel-Palestinian conflict). However, I want to touch our hearts. I want us to see that this is a big issue, a big humanitarian tragedy that is happening,” explained Nadjib.
Psychological reconciliation is also essential in solving a conflict. The aspect of psychology requires a change in conflictive ethos. “Therefore, we must grasp the essence of the conflict and see within it what unfolds,” said Nadjib.
Additionally, we need to respect the societal beliefs. “The beliefs of that group must be dissected by us and examined clearly,” he said.
In addition, Nadjib said that the formation of an ethos of peace is also required by replacing the deeply rooted conflict in the chest with an ethos of peace.
Nadjib also explains that the main contribution of political psychology in creating peace and conflict resolution can be achieved through the utilization of a culture of dialogue based on objectivity, approaching all forms of polarization wisely and appropriately, mitigating collective steps to address the root of the problem, and raising awareness among leaders of conflicting groups. (art/SA)*
