Idi Amin Dada: Authoritarian Leadership

People have struggled for power since they have started to live in groups. First, they came together, establish a system that would work, and then try to keep it stable. When they try to do that, sometimes they may think that the ends justify the means and they cut across all boundaries that block them. Therefore, to control the society, a ruler wants his subjects to follow him whether his decisions are correct or not and to do so he would try every plausible option. For example, he tries to wash people’s brain in a sense through chanting slogans, subliminal messages, and censorship. Though these techniques seem to have been used recently, they were

Those who are in power are not accountable to constituencies and public policy does not derive from social consent. Within sociology and political science, particularly within comparative politics, authoritarianism has been understood as a modern type of political regime. Therefore, the concept focuses on the way of accessing, exercising, and organizing power, on the nature of the belief system, and the role of citizens in the political

Dictators throughout history have known to have bad reputations and personalities. Some say that dictators have heartless in their crimes and cruelty to humanity. Dictators get addicted to the power, money and respect. Money, power and respect are equally important to them. They will do whatever necessary to have it all. Idi Amin and Rafael Trujillo are two leaders we can compare in this situation. Rafael Trujillo was more merciful than Idi Amin.

Have you ever been around someone who seems arrogant? It may not be just arrogance, that individual may have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. Narcissus, a Greek mythological character, fell in love with his reflection in the water and could never pull himself away, so he ended up dying right beside the water after a while (Marcovitz 1). Narcissism became known as being self-centered and was developed after this Greek myth (Marcovitz 1). This disorder affects less than 1% of the American population and it occurs more in men than women (Thomas 1). Later on in life most people with NPD will experience severe symptoms around the ages of forty or fifty years old (Psych 1). Many people who have this disorder either refuse to get help

The rise of fascism in Germany in the 1930’s and the acts of aggression and atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Second World War led to questions being asked as to why some people where prone to such levels of violence and hate in the name of political ideology. The ‘Authoritarian Personality’ was a concept suggested in 1950 by German sociologist Theodor Adorno and colleagues following their research identifying the personality traits believed to allow an individual to be bias towards and follow a fascist ideology. Although initially met with great excitement, over time the authoritarian personality alone

Narcissism can be defined as “ a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that 's vulnerable to the slightest criticism” (Narcissistic personality disorder, n.d.). With this disorder people generally are unhappy and disappointed when they are not privileged to special favors or given admiration they believe they deserve. With narcissistic personality disorder problems in many areas of life can arise such as work, school, financial affairs, and relationships.

Paranoia is often a significant fuel for negative decisions, whether it be rational or irrational

Through the use of fear, many totalitarian leaders obtain and maintain control over others by using intimidation seeing as when one possesses this emotion it is not possible

Imagine living in a world where politics are everything and all forms of individuality and personal identities are shattered. A world where everybody is stripped of their rights to talk, act, think, or even form their own opinions, simply because they do not agree with the government’s beliefs. These aspects are just a few of the examples of things dictators would have control over in a totalitarianism form of government. Aggressive leaders such as Hitler and Joseph Stalin are examples of such dictators. They used their power for terror and murder, and their motive is simply to maximize their own personal power. George Orwell had

According to the article “Authoritarianism, socioethnic diversity and political participation across countries”; “Authoritarians are more likely to display intolerant and punitive attitudes when they perceive a threat to the social cohesion of the in-group” (Singh). This identifies that authoritarian behavior occurs when someone does not understand when something goes wrong, that they are more likely to become very upset over the situation. “Stenner (2005), for example, finds that authoritarians become more intolerant and punitive when exposed to threats to the values and institutions that characterize the in-group, while non-authoritarians tend to become more tolerant and understanding” (SINGH). This quote establishes the actions of an authoritarian; identifying their respective lack of understanding if something goes wrong, and that they are unsure of how to cope with the situation that is placed in front of them. Authoritarian personalities play a role with prejudice, in that they are judgmental of others, they perceive themselves to decidedly be right, and do not allow themselves to get to know others. This theory is very significant to American society because it does not allow people to strive to their full potential.

Narcissism: is a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently it is used to describe the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride.

This article presents the history of the “authoritarian personality trait”, from the moment it was “revealed/coined” to its modern use as well as the main studies designed to measure it. We then focus on the effects of social conformity and obedience have on people who score high on authoritarian scales, trying to see if there is a correlation. With empirical findings, this paper argues that XXX, which can be explained by XXXX This paper further develop that the results cannot predict political orientation and behaviors as the answers given can be influenced by the XXX (media/news/fear of threat for people with low authoritarian VS high authoritarian affected by fear of social deviance)

Narcissistic personality disorder is defined as a disorder that entails a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, either in fantasy or behavior, need for admiration, and lack of empathy. The disorder is closely related to functional impairment, one of which being seen visibly through interpersonal relationships, or lack thereof. There is research that documents NPD as having 6.2% prevalence within our population. The personality disorder was initially going to be rejected from the DSM-5, due to it lacking research material. However after review, it was included and narcissism was broken down into two particular dimensions. The two dimensions are labeled as grandiose and vulnerable. Take note that although NPD is broken into two dimensions, this does

The article, “The Authoritarian Personality,” written by Erich Fromm discusses the common and different characteristics between the two forms of an authoritarian personality. He starts to explain how one becomes a mature person. He states that to become a mature person, said person needs to have developed love and reason. He then states that an authoritarian character has not reached maturity, and therefore, has not developed love or reason. Erich Fromm continues to explain that the difference between the ruler and the ruled is how they start to feel “greater.” The way the ruled feels “greater” is by depending on their ruler for guidance and by following the ruler to become a part of the larger group. The way the ruler feels “greater” is by depending on the ruled to continue to look at them as strong and powerful. He then points out that one person can hold both the ruler and the ruled characteristics. Erich Fromm continues to explain the differences between rational and irrational authority and where these two forms of authority are found. He ends by saying that the understanding of love and reason, and developing said characteristics is the foundation to a person’s own authority and political democracy. While reading this article, it brought me back to all the times I have dealt with people who have authoritative personalities and how it affected me. As stated by Erich Fromm, all people with authority personalities contain components of both the ruler and the ruled.

Since humans have roamed the planet, they have longed to leave a lasting impact on the world. Subsequently, they have become increasingly individualistic and self-absorbed as a direct result of their most innate desire. Actually, that would be the narcissists defense of their actions; someone who simply took a desire to spread good too far. A narcissist is unable to clearly analyze themselves or their actions. Furthermore, a narcissist will go to great lengths to convince themselves that their viewpoint is correct, and feel threatened by anyone who holds a different viewpoint (Myers 629). Narcissism is a highly complex personality disorder, and is difficult for one to fully understand until they have become a living victim of the daily life of a narcissist. In 2011, my father suddenly vanished one morning, leaving nothing but a note on the table addressed to my mother. The note explained that he was