THE MULTILEVEL REPRESENTATIONAL-RELATIONAL DISSONANCE THEORY (MRRDT): A Theory of Collective Political Representation, Cross-Level Conflict, Interpersonal Trust, and Relational Dissonance

AbstractThis manuscript proposes the Multilevel Representational Relational Dissonance Theory (MRRDT), a theory-building framework for investigating how interpersonal trust and affection can coexist with severe political conflict between the states and political communities to which the people concerned belong.Its primary case, Democratic Representation-Interpersonal Friendship Tension: Multi- level Extension (DRIFT-M), concerns two citizens who develop trust or friendship while their respective governments are in sustained conflict. The central problem is not treated as a formal contradiction by default. Rather, the manuscript distinguishes institutional representation, collective public attitudes, and dyadic relationships, and asks when their interaction produces coexistence, experienced dissonance, threat-related suspicion, relational restriction, or antagonistic transfer.The framework proposes the Representational Embeddedness Principle, the Represen- tational Non-Identity Principle (RNIP), and a conditional multilevel transfer mechanism. It includes a possible automatic-threat pathway, while treating claims about nonconscious processing as empirical hypotheses rather than assumed facts.The model is generalized from two states and two individuals to K states and variable population sizes. Democratic representation is the primary case; hybrid and authoritar- ian contexts are comparative extensions with distinct institutional assumptions. Formal expressions specify candidate variables and model families, not established universal laws.Ten hypotheses, boundary conditions, alternative explanations, measurement require- ments, ethical safeguards, and a staged research protocol are set out. No original empirical data are reported; the manuscript is a conceptual and methodological proposal. The proposed contribution is provisional and must be evaluated against existing literature, measurement evidence, and independent empirical tests.Keywords: political representation; intergroup conflict; interpersonal trust; friendship; collective identity; relational dissonance; threat perception; multilevel theory; democratic accountability; research design.