As Aristotle suggested in ancient times, politics can serve as a central arena for increasing collective well-being. Now in the face of increasing populism, we have entered a critical time that calls on us to examine the psychological background of politics.
The major themes of present political psychology include political leadership, conflicts between groups, and political violence. This field developed from studies of Fascism and has been filled with studies of such negative phenomena as the authoritarian personality, which could be viewed as “political psychology as usual”.
Accordingly, it would be desirable for us to develop positive political psychology on themes such as positive political leadership, peace between groups, political participation, and the relation between well-being and elections or justice. This would contribute to a “positive political science” or “positive social science”.
Martin Seligman and Ed-Diener proposed the introduction of the measurement of well-being. Mihaly Csilszentmihalyi suggested the idea of a planetary charter for saving our world, with the aim of developing a declaration of the positive goals for human beings.
I would like to indicate the possibility of starting positive political psychology and invite discussions on actualizing these visions for human flourishing, including the creation of a planetary manifest.