The nature of despotism

the long version

The difference between a strong ruler and a despot can be defined by gratuitous cruelty in excess of the need to retain power, but what is it that drives a ruler to this extreme? The tyrants discussed in The Nature of Despotism share common backgrounds, behaviours and motivations that, when viewed together, can be seen as forming the character of the despot. From more predictable origins, such as violent, miserable childhoods, to those that seem more surprising, such as frustrated artistic impulses, each aspect of despotic cause and effect is examined in detail. The book covers the lives and careers of such despots as Nero, Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Robespierre, Stalin, Hitler, Papa Doc Duvalier, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il. With chapters on the use of ceremony and scapegoats to distract their people, the importance of building a personality cult, the pretension to, and control of, culture and the myth of efficiency, The Nature of Despotism is an indepth study of what it is that makes a tyrant and offers predictions for the future of despotism in a world where international bodies increasingly intervene in a country's affairs.