Response to the Paper of Lord Alderdice - In this response to the paper of Lord Alderdice some of its themes are more specifically focussed and elaborated, e.g. a) the important functions and qualities of good leadership in conflict resolution, b) René Girard’s theory of Mimesis in relation to Kleinian conceptualizations of primitive Envy, c) Girard’s vision of religion’s centrality to the organisation of society, and Giambattista Vico on Theocracy, while a discussion of d) personal experiences of the author in N. Ireland in the 1970s leads on to e) some final reflections on spying, sexu153 ality and such aspects of Enlightenment values which may seem relevant for conducting analytic groups as well as for political work in conflict resolution.
Key words: leadership, mimesis, envy, religion, enlightenment values.
Parole chiave: leadership, mimesi (imitazione), invidia, religione, valori illuministici.