Political symbols and political transitions

• Main Author: Herrero de Miñón, Miguel
• Format: Article
• Language: Catalan
• Published: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona 2006-11-01
• Series: Athenea Digital
• Subjects: Transition; Symbol; Political symbol; Historicity; Affectivity; Intersubjectivity; Temporality; Political integration
• Online Access: http://antalya.uab.es/athenea/num10/Herrero.pdf

Politics, Law and Psychology are fields that come together in the symbolic. This text takes evidence from those three areas to develop an analysis of political symbols and political transitions. The development of the analysis goes through three stages. The first succinctly describes the concept of transition and its meaning. The second closely examines the notion of the symbol, in terms of its definition, to explain aspects that allow us to understand it, characterise it and make its functions clear. Finally, from the author's experience as a witness and as an actor, I suggest three ways of understanding symbols in the processes of political transition: as symbols of change, as symbols of acknowledgment, and as symbols of support.