Jung's Shadow in Modern Government

The world is a stage, and modern government plays the lead in a tragedy of unacknowledged shadows. Carl Jung, the Swiss sage of the psyche, warned us about the shadow—the dark, repressed underbelly of our nature that festers when ignored. In individuals, it breeds chaos; in collectives, it births tyranny. Today’s governments, from Ottawa to Washington to Brussels, are shadow incarnate, projecting their unexamined flaws onto us, the people, while claiming moral supremacy. As a psychotherapist and lifelong contrarian, I see Jung’s shadow not just in the halls of power but in the systems that bind us. Let’s unmask this beast, as we always do here at Shrew Views.

Jung defined the shadow as the unconscious aspects we deny—our greed, fear, rage, or lust for control. For individuals, it’s the snarl we hide behind a smile. For governments, it’s the authoritarian impulse cloaked in “public good.” Modern governance thrives on this deception, and the evidence is glaring. Take the past five years: mandates, censorship, and surveillance have surged under the guise of safety. From Canada’s Emergencies Act crushing trucker protests to the EU’s Digital Services Act policing speech, governments wield power with a paternalistic smirk, denying their own hunger for control. Jung would call this projection—blaming citizens for “disorder” while ignoring their own chaotic impulses.