Fighting Against Dictatorship (2024)

Dictatorial types gain and maintain power through a number of social processes and psychological dynamics.

From our Palaeolithic roots onwards, dictators – whether they led tribes, fiefdoms, countries, religions or organisations – have always been with us. We have always been attracted to individuals who appear strong. Some people are easily persuaded to give up their freedoms for an imaginary sense of stability and protection, not to mention an illusion of restored greatness.

Generally speaking, times of social unrest have always been the feeding ground for dictators. Periods of economic depression, political or social chaos give dictators the opportunity to appear as saviour and, when conditions allow it, seize power by coup d’état or other means. Their populist demagoguery can seduce broad swathes of the population. However, most of their inflated promises turn out to be no more than hot air. So how is it that they’re able to gain and maintain power? They succeed by taking full advantage of known social processes and dynamics.

Riding the confirmation bias: First, they are extremely talented at inflaming the “wish to believe”. Their cries of patriotism and righteousness are just what the populace wants to hear. The unquestioning acceptance of a dictator’s rhetoric is rooted in humankind’s most pervasive bias – the confirmation bias. This compels us to look for evidence to support our ideas and desires, while discounting contradictory information. Such a bias simplifies the complexity of our world, but can also be seen as a form of “neurological laziness”. As expert manipulators, dictators take advantage of this universal cognitive shortcut.

Identification with the aggressor: Dictators are also especially good at targeting socially and economically vulnerable people – those who are not always very well educated or informed and, as such, often feel confused and insecure. Dictators exploit the rage and frustration of this population through the psychological process of “identification with the aggressor”. Many of the disempowered see in the “strong” man or woman both a reflection of themselves and the promise of a victory over their downtrodden state. They are caught in the allure of illusions and magical thinking. They become brainwashed.

The blame game: Whatever the societal wrong, dictators are adept at inciting blame and scapegoating. They play off the primitive defence mechanism of “splitting”, positioning issues in terms of in- and out-groups, magnifying external threats and fanning a collective paranoia. At the same time, dictators offer themselves as steadfast saviours. Buying into the simplistic, binary propositions, their followers align themselves with the “good fight” against evil and become intolerant of those they perceive as different.

Propaganda lords: Dictators quickly learn the value of indoctrination. To maintain their hold on power, they seek to control information, ideally by centralising all mainstream media. Positive news is attributed to them and negative news is ascribed to enemies of the state. With the help of the propaganda machine, dictators become an integral part of everyone’s life. During elections, they manipulate the final outcome by curtailing press freedom, limiting the opposition’s ability to campaign and spreading misinformation – “fake news”. Dictators also try to prevent or destroy social frameworks and institutions serving as countervailing forces.

Who’s responsible for dictators?

There will always be people whose personality makeup predisposes them to dictatorship. Many past and contemporary dictators suffer from extraordinarily high levels of narcissism, psychopathy and paranoia. They have an inflated sense of self-importance and feel entitled to the admiration of others. An inherent lack of empathy, guilt or remorse allows the most malignant to commit unspeakable atrocities.

But while it is easy to vilify dictators, we should also realise that, in many ways, we (the people) are the ones enabling them. After all, a dictator cannot function without followers. Although we may not admit it out loud, it’s attractive to have others tell us what’s right and what’s wrong. But abdicating personal responsibility cripples freedom of expression and derails democratic processes. The good news is, however, that although we enable dictators, we can also disable them.

Creating a responsible electorate

In many established democracies, the descent towards dictatorship is becoming a real threat. In this light, we need to consider two urgent questions: Can dictators in the making be “cured”? And can we prevent dictators from assuming power?

I’m afraid that the response to the first question is: “not likely”. Historical experience has proven otherwise. From a clinical perspective, most psychotherapists believe that dictators (with their psychopathic traits) tend to be untreatable. Thus, many opposing powers are needed to address the second question on how to prevent their ascension.

Prevention is better than cure, so we need to recognise potential dictators before they stealthily compromise and destroy our lives. Once they are in power, it is often too late.

A healthy democracy finds footing in a populace able to listen to different points of view and manage ambiguities. It also implies a voting population that’s knowledgeable, mobilised and engaged – not the kind to believe that voting is somebody else’s business. To prevent dictators from coming to the fore requires a population that cares for liberty and takes responsibility for it. Furthermore, the government, the head of State, the legislature, the courts, the press and the electorate should all be independent to provide countervailing oversight.

Striving for a better world

In the 1940 film The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin satirises Nazism and Adolf Hitler while playing the role of a Jewish barber who, in a case of mistaken identity, is forced to impersonate the absolute ruler of fictional Tomainia. At the end of the film, Chaplin delivers an impassionate speech asking the populace to unite and fight against dictatorship:

"You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure… In the name of democracy let us use that power; let us all unite…

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people… Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.”

Unfortunately, we are still far from the kind of world that Chaplin described.Many of our present world leaders are making a great effort to endanger the democratic processes. Narrow-minded nationalism, xenophobia, greed and unimaginable violence is present everywhere. It makes it even timelier to strive for the kind of world envisioned by Chaplin.

Manfred Kets de Vriesis the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organisational Change at INSEAD and the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus. He is the Founder of INSEAD'sGlobal Leadership Centreand the Programme Director ofThe Challenge of Leadership, one of INSEAD’s top Executive Development Programmes.

Professor Kets de Vries is also the Scientific Director of the Executive Master in Coaching and Consulting for Change (EMCCC). His most recent books are:You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger: Executive Coaching Challenges;Telling Fairy Tales in the Boardroom: How to Make Sure Your Organisation Lives Happily Ever After; andRiding the Leadership Rollercoaster: An Observer’s Guide.

Follow INSEAD Knowledge onTwitterandFacebook.

About the author(s)

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

is the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organisational Change at INSEAD and the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus.

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Anonymous

04/10/2023, 07.26 pm

In my country Vietnam, people are brainwashed since childhood. History was twisted in deceitful lessons.

Media is double-tounged, pretended to be nice and friendly to the world while internet polices uses KOLs and clone accounts to sway people 's minds.

Fighting Against Dictatorship (1)

Kimberly Jordan

17/09/2023, 07.56 pm

I can't stand dictators such as Vladimir Putin. He's the guilty one who started the invasion of Ukraine which we never wanted at all. And not only that, but he also killed all the innocent Ukranian people and damaged their cities with fire which is unforgivable in God's eyes. My family friends and I had enough with that tyranny, so we insist that the truth must win as Putin is under siege. There's no way he can escape that!

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Anonymous

17/08/2023, 03.41 am

Most of the dictatorship in Africa is sponsored by the wester countries , how do you fight this ?

Abiy ahmed of Ethiopia is the 21st century contemporary dictator suffer from extraordinarily high levels of narcissism, psychopathy and paranoia.his lack of empathy, guilt or remorse allows the most malignant to commit unspeakable atrocities.including a drone attack on civilians as a revenge.

the last 3 years in Tigray war close to 1 million people died , now in Amhara region he continued

he fooled the world and he has a nobel peace price that he do not deserve

Why is the western media and HRW ignoring this ?

Why did the world allow the US state department to controll the main stream media and HRW ?to ignore covering the war crime committed by this kind of leaders

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Mike Ming

10/02/2023, 05.28 pm

If you are starting from a free society to prevent dictatorships from happening, you need to look at how some countries freed themselves from dictatorships, including the United States before the declaration of independence and the wars it fought to free itself from the dictatorship of British rule. Yes, prevention is FAR better than the cure. Because the 'cure' may mean amputation or surgical removal of an organ, if at all possible to save the rest of the body. Best case scenario is not to allow a dictator access to the power of control over the people - or control of the military and security forces. But if the population fails to prevent a potential dictator to get access to control of the military and the security forces, you will need all the tools at your disposal - the laws, the civil and non-violent means, and if all else fails, the use of force to free yourself of the dictatorship.

If you are not convinced of the horrors of dictatorships, there are many examples around the world to use as case-study. There is the current and ongoing case in Myanmar for you to study.

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Anonymous User

23/07/2022, 11.52 am

We,as voters lack trust in politicians and I think that is why we insist on an open vote in parliament. It is interesting that dictators also insist on an open vote.A politician cannot be bribed or threatened successfully if voting is secret. I am suggesting that we can have much more trust in politicians if they are allowed (by us) to have the protection of a secret and democratic vote and in doing so eliminate the power of a dictator.

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Anonymous User

22/07/2022, 01.15 pm

I am intensely in Professor Manfreds’ understanding of dictators. I have written to many organisations such as the U.N, World Bank, I.M.F and have never received any feedback and so would like to submit now to the Professor for consideration.
Dictators cause enormous suffering and damage - how do they get there?
They form a gang and control the gang by bribes and threats and manipulation. They then undermine the principle of democracy by controlling the vote of gang members. They can do this because our voting system is transparent. When we as electors vote it is protected by confidentiality - but when our representatives vote there is no protection.
This is how a leader like Hitler could dictate to his country. His party members were ordered to vote a particular direction or
1 they would lose party nomination
2 would lose electoral help prior to elections
3 their electorate would be neglected in funding grants
4 would not be considered for ministerial positions
5 generally ostracised within the party
As long as we, as electors want to control our representatives, we in effect transfer control to a potential dictator. It is only when we relinquish that control that our representatives ( through secret voting) become independent from a dictator and can vote free of coercion.
They then make a group decision not controlled by one person- faction- union - lobbyist - businessman - media or crime boss.
A politician instantly becomes independent when his vote is confidential.
Their vote - even if biased, is still only one amongst an independent group, and it is that group decision that sets democracy apart from dictatorship - that defeats corruption and gives a balanced result.
If a politician did reveal their vote it would suggest they have accepted a bribe or is a publicity seeker and not to be trusted. Hopefully a secret vote will help make politics more cooperative - less competitive and confrontational. Where politicians are judged on their ability to achieve consensus rather than division. My hope is for non-political organisations to consider this option and help make it happen.

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Anonymous User

21/06/2022, 12.20 pm

There is a saying in my country, spring doesn't com with one flower. But not all sayings are right. How can a group of well motivated people make that change against tyranny. By the way I live in Iran, and nowhere is more "firsthand" in experiencing dictatorship.

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Anonymous User

31/01/2022, 08.12 pm

The simple option to get rid of dictator, is union of the people

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Anonymous User

08/05/2021, 06.45 pm

It's in fact very easy for a country, any country for that matter, to have a dictatorship.
Many potential dictators begin their career by committing some criminal acts, usually by treating the country's treasury as though it's an inheritance from their grandfather.
Besides, this the future dictator will also be committing other acts like stifling criticisms and perhaps ordering his police to subject critics to brutal attacks.
Very soon he would be up to his neck with indictable criminal acts.
And so, in order to avert being held responsible for his acts, he will want to stay in power for the rest of his life and will use whatever means at his disposal to make this happen.
And a dictatorship is born.
Easy, isn't it?

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Anonymous User

24/04/2021, 03.20 pm

I think the population, who don't have their brains to think what's right and wrong. Just blindly following what other person is saying, an anchor, politician or any body. These ones are the reason to give their countries dictators. Blind followers!

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Anonymous User

23/01/2021, 10.49 pm

I was born and raised in Castro’s Cuba so I have experienced dictatorship first-hand. Manipulative, narcissistic people who seek control over others will always be around us, whether in politics, business, unscrupulous salesmen, or even members of our own families. I’ve always pondered if it’s possible to have a political system that prevents dictatorship but I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing. In the end, a tradition of democratic culture, and a stable socio-economic society, as is in the case of western democracies, are the best defense against tyranny. A constitution is worth no more than the paper that is written on unless people have faith in its authority.

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Anonymous User

07/01/2021, 06.42 am

why do many presidents stay long in power and not allowing democracy more especial presidents like museven of uganda

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Anonymous User

15/02/2020, 09.01 pm

Excellent, but until humanity is perfect, free nations need borders..

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Anonymous User

25/09/2019, 12.23 pm

Is India going to face dictatorship?
What is narendra modi doing?

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Anonymous User

28/01/2020, 09.47 pm

Everything he is doing indicates the behaviour described above.

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Anonymous User

23/01/2019, 12.31 am

It is better to use more simple words for those whom English isn't their mother language.

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