Ethiopian Review
19 Aug 2008
By Alemayehu G. Mariam
Political Psychology
The literature in political psychology (which encompasses multidisciplinary fields including anthropology, cognitive and personality psychology, sociology, psychiatry, economics, history, philosophy, political theory, etc.) suggests that dictators of all stripes and from every continent — Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedung, Saddam Hussien, Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir, Francois Duvalier, Ferdinand Marcos or Zenawi — suffer from at least three common syndromes: 1) denial of reality, 2) narcissism and 3) paranoia (fear).
First, dictators have difficulty accepting reality, that is, the world as it objectively manifests itself. For instance, millions may be starving or unemployed and millions more may barely survive without the necessities of life. Dictators see a world around them that is not pretty, so they manufacture their own. Where there is widespread famine, they see "pockets of severe malnutrition"; where they are confronted with overwhelming evidence of bombed out villages in the form of satellite photos, they claim there is not a "shred of evidence" of human rights violations; where the documented facts show thousands of innocent citizens have been swept off the street and jailed without a scintilla of evidence of criminal wrongdoing, they conveniently reclassify them as "insurgents and militants"; where the world sees political prisoners, they see sinners who need absolution for "making mistakes"; and when they are rejected in the polls, they "clampdown on the opposition" in the name of defending the "constitution".
Dictators see only what they want to see; and to avoid what they don't want to see, they create their own convenient world of illusions out of the whole cloth of their personal beliefs, opinions and fantasies. As they continue to abuse power without any legal restraints and convince themselves that they are above the law and accountable to no one but themselves, they transform their world of illusion into a world of delusion. In their delusional world, they become both the "lone ranger" of the old American West "cleaning up bad towns and riff-raff" and the only custodians of the Holy Grail, with miraculous powers to save their nation. In their delusional world, there is room only for themselves and their cronies. They distrust and passionately detest intellectuals — academicians, economists, scholars, journalists, scientists, researchers, lawyers, judges, doctors, engineers, teachers, and even students – and view them as enemies. Whether it is Mao's Great Cultural Revolution, Lenin's mass arrest and deportation of the Constitutional Democrats (Kadets), or Zenawi's purge of the universities, the story is basically the same. Dictators believe only they know what is good for the country and the people. For instance, Mao had little knowledge about technology or economics, but he convinced himself that in the Great Leap Forward of 1959-61, China in five or ten years could be transformed into a mighty industrial power and overtake the United States, Europe and the Soviet Union. In the process, he created the worst famine and natural disaster of the 20th Century.
The second "dictators' syndrome" is narcissism. They are the center of the universe and everything revolves around them. In their delusional world, that does happen. Because they are narcissistic, they are limited in their thinking, selective in their views, narrow in their vision, intolerant of dissent, solicitous of praise and adulation often surrounding themselves with yes-men, distrustful of everyone (except those in the small close group of people who feed them only the information they want to hear), and paranoid of all opposition, even peaceful ones. Because they are detached from reality, they remain rigid and inflexible; and their approach and attitude towards others is never to compromise or negotiate. Mao was told repeatedly about the devastating impact of the Great Famine of 1959-61 by top party officials, but he refused to budge. He simply could not admit that he had been wrong since that would have vaporized his utopian fantasies and potentially shifted power to others in the party. So, he let 30 million people die in the famine. The mantra, philosophy and mindset of all dictators are "my way, the highway or you-are-on-your-way-to-jail!" To their way of thinking, conciliation and reconciliation with their opposition is humiliation, and a deep wound on their pride.
The third dictators' syndrome is fear. Dictators rule by fear, but paradoxically, they are also ruled by their own fears while feeling omnipotent and invincible at the same. They are afraid all the time. They are afraid of their own shadows. They are afraid of criticism (and love to jail those pesky journalists) and become defensive when they are challenged. That is because dictators are thugs at heart. They see the world as a place where they get their way by threat, intimidation, cheating, lying and robbing; rarely by persuasive logic or compelling arguments and evidence. Because they are afraid, they are also isolated and friendless. Mao, Stalin and Saddam would go into deep depressions when they feared conspiracies were brewing among their opponents. The biographers of these dictators have written with extraordinary detail how they would spend days alone ruminating the dismissal, imprisonment or killing of their opponents. Dictators fear not only for their physical safety, but they are also afraid of facing the truth about themselves and betrayal from those closest to them. That is the major reason why they keep their own counsel and communicate only with a few individuals in their inner circle (the "state within the state", the "knights of the roundtable"). When they consult the few in the inner circle, they often find out that their trusted members have little real understanding of the outside world or the complex domestic issues and problems. Even when there are a few in the inner circle who might have some sophisticated understanding, they are often afraid to tell the dictators the truth.
Dictators make their most catastrophic decisions in their isolation. Saddam Hussein, for instance, decided to invade Kuwait on his own within weeks of the actual invasion date. He thought he could grab the tiny nation of Kuwait and solve his financial problems from the war with Iran and consolidate its regional authority. Even when he was given a chance to withdraw before the Americans unleashed Operation Desert Storm, he continued to live in his delusional world, believing that America would not attack him because "Americans can't take casualties." Back in January 2007 Zenawi boasted "We'll be out of Somalia in a couple of weeks," after cleaning the Somali House. Well, he is still there.
All Dictators are Criminals: The Forensics of Dictatorship
Let's clearly understand what we mean when we say dictators are criminals. Simply stated, we mean that dictators gain power by force or stolen elections. They hold and abuse an extraordinary amount of personal power and are unaccountable to anyone. They have the unchallenged power to make and unmake laws, and often their word is law. They order massive violations of human rights by arbitrary arrests, detentions, tortures; they declare states of emergency at a whim, jail or release political opponents at will and head a one-party state that thrives on public corruption. Whether it is Stalin, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussien, al-Bashir or Zenawi, all dictators use violence to maintain their grip on power. Dictators always rule by force, never by consent. Dictators will seek to keep their grip on power by any means necessary.
Dictators, like street criminals, operate outside the boundaries of the law and morality, and survive by committing more crimes. In a way, street criminals and dictators are a professional criminal class. They commit crimes either for a living, or to continue living. All dictators (including the so-called benign "development dictators" of Singapore and Malaysia, for instance) routinely commit any one or more of the following: crimes against human rights, crimes against humanity, war crimes. Not unlike the petty street criminal who is unconcerned about the rights of his individual victim, dictators are unconcerned about the rights of their people. "One death is a tragedy," Stalin said coldly, "but one million deaths is a statistic." If 4.5 million people die in "severe malnutrition", so what! "Tough luck!"
Forensic analysis (application of multidisciplinary scientific and investigative techniques and methods in criminal or civil litigation) could be valuable in understanding dictators-cum-criminals. One technique of forensic analysis often used by litigation lawyers is "statement analysis". It is very useful in preparing for cross-examination of deceptive witnesses, jury selection (voir dire), and in general, in attacking perjured testimony and in removing the veil of deceit to reveal the truth to the jury. This technique is based on a number of premises: 1) There are many ways and forms of lying, but every lie necessarily involves verbal choices. By examining the structure and contents of an oral or written statement, one can detect signs of deception. 2) Criminals make deceptive statements not because they want to be cautious and avoid self-incrimination, but because they want to intentionally create a fog of lies to obscure the facts. 3) Sophisticated criminals choose their words in a calculated way to avoid responsibility and evade the truth. 4) When criminals lie, they often try to maintain two story lines in their minds: the incident as it occurred and another one they have invented to cover up the real incident. This mental tension makes itself evident in the statements of the criminals; and by analyzing the statements one can systematically determine if the story is based on recollection from memory or if it is a figment of the imagination.
Consequently, professional criminals develop a lexicon (a dictionary) of deception, equivocation and obscuration. They become experts in evasive answers and find all kinds of ways to be responsive by being unresponsive. Critical and rigorous analysis of their verbal or written statements in such instruments as deposition, trial transcripts, police reports, public statements, corroborated private statements, letters, and documents and recordings often reveals the truth. Suffice it to say that there are serious forensic implications in admitting the occurrence of "famine" than "severe malnutrition"; in jailing "insurgents and militants" than admitting sweep-up of innocent citizens; or in pardoning those who "made mistakes" than "releasing political prisoners."
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