World Association of Psychoanalysis (AMP)

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The World Association of Psychoanalysis (WAP), also known by its French name Association Mondiale de Psychanalyse (AMP), is the primary international Lacanian psychoanalytic organization, founded in 1992 by Jacques-Alain Miller. It unites a network of Lacanian psychoanalytic schools across multiple continents, promoting the transmission, formation, and clinical practice of psychoanalysis according to the teachings of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.

As the institutional heir to Lacan’s psychoanalytic legacy, the WAP was established to coordinate a global Lacanian movement in the wake of the dissolution of the École Freudienne de Paris (EFP) in 1980 and the subsequent rise of new Lacanian schools throughout Europe and the Americas. The WAP remains a pivotal actor in the contemporary psychoanalytic field, advancing a rigorously Freudian orientation informed by Lacan’s structuralist, topological, and ethical innovations.

Founding and History

Background

The roots of the World Association of Psychoanalysis lie in the institutional and intellectual upheaval of French psychoanalysis following the dissolution of the École Freudienne de Paris (EFP) by Jacques Lacan in 1980[1]. The EFP, established by Lacan in 1964, was dissolved due to internal conflicts, disputes about training procedures (notably the Pass), and concerns over Lacan’s growing disenchantment with institutional authority.

In the aftermath, Jacques-Alain Miller, Lacan’s foremost student and editor of his Seminars, founded the École de la Cause freudienne (ECF) in 1981. The ECF became the central French Lacanian institution and a nucleus for what would become a transnational movement of Lacanian psychoanalytic schools[2].

Recognizing the need for an international structure to federate these emerging Lacanian schools and ensure the global dissemination of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Miller founded the World Association of Psychoanalysis in Buenos Aires in 1992 during the First International Encounter of the Freudian Field[3].

Mission and Orientation

The WAP’s stated mission is to:

  • Promote the study and practice of psychoanalysis as established by Freud and reformulated by Lacan
  • Ensure rigorous analytic formation based on Lacanian principles
  • Uphold the ethics of psychoanalysis, particularly the analyst's relation to desire and the unconscious
  • Maintain and develop institutional procedures proposed by Lacan, such as the Cartel and the Pass

The WAP was conceived not as a professional certification body, but as an ethical and epistemological project aimed at preserving and transmitting psychoanalysis as a living discourse.

Miller described its purpose as:

“To group together schools where psychoanalysis is practiced according to Lacan’s orientation, and where the formation of analysts is based on the principles articulated in Lacan’s ‘Proposition of 9 October 1967’ on the Pass.”

[4]

Organizational Structure

The WAP is organized as a federation of psychoanalytic schools, each operating semi-autonomously in accordance with Lacanian principles.

Key Components

  • The Schools: The WAP includes seven official Schools (Écoles) with presence across Europe and the Americas.
  • The Cartel: Following Lacan’s model, the cartel remains the primary form of collective study. A cartel consists of three to five members plus a plus-one who maintains orientation and rigor[5].
  • The Pass Procedure: Each school maintains a procedure for the Pass, through which an analysand may be nominated as an Analyst of the School (AE), emphasizing subjective transformation over institutional accreditation[6].
  • Congress: The WAP holds a world congress approximately every two years.
  • General Council: The WAP is governed by a General Council composed of representatives from the member Schools, along with elected officers.

Member Schools

As of 2024, the World Association of Psychoanalysis consists of seven official Schools.

Europe

  • École de la Cause freudienne (ECF) – France

Founded in 1981, the ECF is the central Lacanian institution in France and successor to the École Freudienne de Paris[7].

  • Scuola Lacaniana di Psicoanalisi (SLP) – Italy

Formally constituted in 2002.

  • Nueva Escuela Lacaniana (NEL) – United States, Canada, Latin America

Originally formed in 2000, with a growing English-speaking community.

  • New Lacanian School (NLS) – Europe

Founded in 2003, covering English- and Dutch-speaking countries.

Latin America

  • Escuela de la Orientación Lacaniana (EOL) – Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia

Founded in 1992 in Buenos Aires.

  • Escuela Brasilera de Psicanálise (EBP) – Brazil

Founded in 1997.

  • NELcf – Latin America and United States

An evolution of the original NEL, oriented toward Freudian Field communities.

Congresses and Events

The WAP organizes international congresses every two years, known as Congrès de l’AMP.

Notable themes have included:

  • 2000 – The Pass
  • 2004 – Ordinary Psychosis
  • 2012 – The Symbolic Order in the 21st Century
  • 2016 – Speaking the Body: On the Drive and Jouissance
  • 2022 – Woman Does Not Exist

Theoretical Orientation

The WAP follows the orientation of Freud read through Lacan, emphasizing:

  • The unconscious as structured like a language
  • The divided (barred) subject
  • The registers of the Real, Symbolic, and Imaginary
  • Jouissance, desire, castration, and the Other
  • The analytic act and the analyst’s desire

Jacques-Alain Miller has been central in articulating Lacan’s later teaching, particularly concepts such as ordinary psychosis, the sinthome, and the clinic of the Real[8].

Publications and Media

WAP-affiliated publications include:

  • La Cause freudienne
  • Scilicet
  • Mental
  • Lacanian Review
  • Psychoanalytical Notebooks

Criticism and Debates

Criticisms of the WAP include:

  • Centralization of authority around Jacques-Alain Miller[9]
  • Doctrinal rigidity
  • Accessibility and technical language
  • Distance from mainstream psychiatric models

Defenders argue that the WAP preserves the radical ethical core of psychoanalysis.

Conclusion

The World Association of Psychoanalysis stands as the leading institution of the Lacanian orientation in contemporary psychoanalysis. Through its global network, commitment to the Pass, and fidelity to Freud’s cause, the WAP continues to shape psychoanalysis as a clinical, theoretical, and ethical practice in the 21st century.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jacques Lacan, Television: A Challenge to the Psychoanalytic Establishment, W.W. Norton, 1990.
  2. ↑ Élisabeth Roudinesco, Jacques Lacan, Columbia University Press, 1997.
  3. ↑ Jacques-Alain Miller, “Opening Remarks at the Founding of the AMP,” 1992.
  4. ↑ Jacques-Alain Miller, “Letter on the AMP,” La Lettre de l’École, no. 1, 1992.
  5. ↑ Jacques-Alain Miller, “Five Variations on the Theme of the Cartel,” La Cause freudienne, no. 9, 1991.
  6. ↑ Jacques Lacan, “Proposition du 9 octobre 1967,” in Autres Écrits, Seuil, 2001.
  7. ↑ Jacques-Alain Miller, Un effort de poésie, Verdier, 2002.
  8. ↑ Jacques-Alain Miller, “Ordinary Psychosis,” Psychoanalytical Notebooks, no. 12, 2004.
  9. ↑ Dany Nobus and Malcolm Quinn, Knowing Nothing, Staying Stupid, Routledge, 2005.
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