Video Creator’s Channel Chris Williamson

Oh, Hello, There Friends Today We Are Going To

learn how to be a dictator? What kind of Frank Dakota is an author and his most recent book How to be a dictator looks at eight of the most chillingly effective dictators of the 21st century. So we’re gonna learn about Mussolini Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung and a couple of leaders that I’m going to leave to Frank to pronounce but yeah the characteristics of a dictator oddly similar whilst also being incredibly unique as Frank identifies one dictator from one regime at one particular period of time. Wouldn’t work at all if he was to swap places with another as always if you’ve got any questions comments or feedback feel free to get at me at Kris will Ex wherever you follow me but for now please welcome. Frank Dakota I am joined by Frank Dakota at. beginning of his book tour, Frank How are you welcome to the show? Thank you thank you for having me that’s a pleasure to have you on so today you’re going to teach us how to be a dictator right that’s the title of the book not sure I can really help you go all the way it’s nice so it’s not a personal development self development.

How To Book It Is Probably More

of a history book that will tell you how to spot other potential dictators good yeah well if there are any budding dictators in the in the audience today there might be a little disappointed, but for everyone else those of us we’re going to be fascinated. So tell us why you wrote the book first off um well. I’m a historian and when you think about it you could pretty much summarize the 20th century. In about a sentence, there is an attempt on the one hand to separate out powers. In other words, to build up the civil society to have checks and balances that’s a very difficult thing to do it’s frail it’s fragile, but it’s made great progress and then, on the other hand, there’s an attempt to concentrate all power.

In Other Words, To Make Sure

that there is an authoritarian regime with one person who makes all the decisions. These are two very contradictory trends and I spent most of my career really studying countries where attempts have been made to concentrate powers in the hands of a dictator, so that really was what prompted me to write this book. I suppose that when people think back to the 20th century that are that will be some of the defining characteristics right so what is a dictator in its purest. Form well, This may sound strange but you have to think of a dictator as developing against a background of democracy. In other words, to put it slightly differently.

We Live In An Age Of Democracy.

In fact, since the French and the American Revolutions of the 18th century, we live more or less in an age of democracy. In other words, sovereignty with the collapse of old regimes and France in particular, power is seen to reside no longer in some sort of heavenly mandate or in the divine rights, but in the people and people select a leader through a process of elections of course, this is a very gradually unfolding age of democracy, but it means that there is a paradox with dictators. They seize power on the one hand, but they must also create the illusion somehow of popular support and that’s where the cult of personality comes in that’s. One of the key focuses of the book.

A Dictator Must On The One Hand Use

terror. You know the secret police military forces tortures spies the Praetorian Guard concentration camps, but, on the other hand, there must also be an attempt to build up what I call a cult of personality. In other words, a dictator must coerce his people into acclaiming him. He must create the illusion that people actually support him Mmm yeah you’ve got to still play the game whilst also not looking like you’re playing a different game exactly so this is the great paradox of modern dictators. They all claim to be rather democratic or at the very least they claim to represent the true will.

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Of The People Yes I Understand And

it’s then a a game of switching that round. How much of this do you think is very well laid out in advance from the position of the dictator and how much of it is us post-hoc rationalization Could some of them have begun with the best ideas of holding democracy in in mind, and then changed when power became easier for them to take and advantages became available. I understand the question. It’s a very good one you have to bear in mind that successful dictators are extremely pragmatic and that hard opportunists. They use whatever comes their way to their own advantage.

Ill Give You One Example.

Hitler carries out a coup in 1923 by storming a beer hall in Munich. It doesn’t succeed, but then he turns defeat into a victory by turning the courtroom into a propaganda platform. with newspapers reporting everything he says and then uses his time in prison behind bars to write his political autobiography called Mine and this goes on and on whenever something happens that might be seen to go against a dictator. Many of them managed to make the very best of it.

So They Are Definitely Opportunists Who

sees particular you know occasions and turn it to their advantage. But on the other hand, I think it’s fair to say that most of them are pretty convinced that this sort of that pretty convinced that power must end up in the hands of one person. All of them express contempt for what they see as weak wishy-washy parliamentary democracy. Hitler says so openly the Communists of course talked about democratic centralism, in other words, democracy exec sir sized by a small committee of people on behalf of the entire population UK. sound massively like a democracy that no but of course again.

Its Crucial To Realize That They Must Invoke

the will of the people. They must try to come up with at least the illusion that coercion is in effect consent how much of the rise of a dictator do you think is the manifestation or the projection of one person’s inner personality their particular makeup that they have and how much of it do. You think is them chasing a dream that I guess the difference between a career and a calling so to speak as some of them doing it because they just want power all all costs or do you think some of them have got a more meaning more purpose behind that particular movement yes it’s it’s the classic question of power versus ideology. Are they there to seek power and more power All the Gerudo. Have a particular vision a particular ideology that’s exactly what I meant Yes yes well? It’s an old debate and what I’m trying to show is that all the emphases that historians have put on ideology.

I Remember Being A Student 30 Years Ago

and I was all about studying the ideology of Marx’s and communism studying Maoism studying Leninism Stalinism you name it but in the end, what I’m trying to show is that ideology doesn’t really matter all that much to a dictator. What matters is not loyalty to a Creed’s, but loyalty to his person that’s what a dictator wishes. The reasons for that are reasonably straightforward. A dictator by definition, is somebody who sees as power and power has to be maintained power seized through violence must be maintained through violence and that can be a very blunt instrument, so it’s much better to try to create loyalty to enforce it so to speak most of all. When a dictator seizes power, he runs the risk of somebody else doing the same thing to him.

In Other Words, There Are Rivals

somehow waiting in the wings. The prospect of a stab in the back appears so what do you do to control you in the court to make sure that your allies or rivals Don’t organize a coup against you as new dictator. I think here again called personality is all-important. You make sure that the people around you acclaim you. They are a based by being forced to proclaim you as a great leader and most of all by claiming you as a great leader Allies rivals all of them have to lie and when they lie when everybody lies.

Its Very Difficult To Find Out

who actually supports whom so loyalty is the greatest concern for any one dictator. They’re constantly keeping tabs and the people around them. They’re worried about who might betray them yeah there’s a Instagram quote going around which you probably almost definitely won’t have seen, but it’s talking about boys that cheat on girls and it says if he cheats with you. He’ll cheat on you and I think that what that suggests is past behavior is suggestive of future behavior and if you’ve taken power and you have managed to have a group of sycophants around you that are supporting you in this power. Grab you’re totally right it must be an incredibly anxious and paranoid environment To be in is that one person at the top if you did it what’s stopping everybody else well that’s exactly it that’s that’s precisely the point is that you want to have people who were loyal or at this proclaim themselves to be loyal.

Youre Constantly Watching Your Back So You

really as a dictator? You somehow Teeter between Hubris on the one hand, having to make all major decisions under on your own because you don’t trust anyone else and paranoia and the other where you see plots around you, where you imagine that there might be enemies when in fact, there might be allies when you purge friends and foes alike when you are pretty much on your own at the very top towering far above all the others. This meta-cognizant way of living almost having two lives your own plus the one that you’re playing with everybody else plus keeping in mind. All of the interplay the connections between all of those people and what they genuinely believe in the games they’re playing as well. It must be almost untenable to live this life without being on the verge of. A breakdown at all times you only imagine how how testing it must be.

Ive Learned A Little Bit About

Hitler and I know that he was on all manner of cocktail of drugs by the end of World War two in an effort to keep him up with some maladies that were perhaps oncoming no matter what but definitely a lot that we were due to stress and just him trying to keep all of this up during your research for the book did you find any dictators who seemed to be designed for the job so to speak. They were just made to measure for the tasks that they had to do and they took all of this pressure and worry in their stride well the ones who last tend to be very gifted. We have images in mind of you know Hitler being a sort of non. person or a grotesque figure, but the truth is that he was extremely hard-working and it was a very good orator, actor and choreographer.

He Worked Endlessly At Building Up

his party over the many years. In the early 1920s he had a true instinct for power I was suspicious of anyone who wasn’t true truly loyal. The same could be said of Stalin, an enormous appetite.

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Summary

Frank Dakota is an author and his most recent book How to be a dictator looks at eight of the most chillingly effective dictators of the 21st century . The characteristics of a dictator oddly similar whilst also being incredibly unique as Frank identifies one dictator from one regime at one particular period of time . How to book it is probably more of a history book that will tell you how to spot other potential dictators . Kris will Ex wherever you follow me but for now please welcome Frank Dakota at the beginning of his book tour, Frank How are you welcome to the show? Thank you thank you for having me that’s a pleasure to have you on so today you’re going to be fascinated. As always if you’ve got any . questions comments or feedback feel free to get at me at Kris will ex . at Kris Will Ex where you want to get away from the show. Back to Mail Online home . Back to the page you can find out more details of the book tour.com/End of the page…. Click here to read more and watch the full video