THE SPIRIT OF DESPOTISM 147Leadership by terror achieves its ends and gains compliance by the
use of arbitrary power beyond the scope permitted by law, custom, and
tradition. It is lust for power that pushes true despots beyond the bounda-
ries of their mandate to rule, causing them to abandon respect for human
rights and individual freedom, and to behave in ways that prevent others
from living their lives with dignity and self - respect. In a nutshell, tyran-
nical leadership is the arbitrary rule by a single person who, by inducing
a psychological state of extreme fear in a population, monopolizes power
to his or her own advantage (unchecked by law or other restraining
infl uences), exercising that power without restraint and, in most cases,
contrary to the general good. Despots hamper justice, the right to fair
process, excellence, and the development of the human potential of a
population.
My objective in including this kind of material in this chapter is to
foster a better understanding of despotic regimes and the reasons behind
the continued of existence of leadership by terror — hitherto a largely
unexplored domain. Because prevention of such phenomena requires
knowledge, my hope is that assisting in the understanding of the mechan-
ics of ter ror w i l l be a modest step in the fi ght towards preventing despotic
leaders and totalitarian regimes from gaining, and remaining in, power
in future generations.
Clarifying Terminology
In contrast to much other writing on this subject, I use the terms ‘ dic-
tatorship, ’ ‘ despotism, ’ ‘ tyranny, ’ ‘ authoritarianism, ’ and ‘ totalitarianism ’
somewhat interchangeably, since specifi c classifi cation of such words
would be a whole article in itself. It is useful, however, to acknowledge
efforts by other writers to classify non - democratic forms of government
as specifi c positions on a spectrum, according to the degree of mind -
control enforced — putting at one extreme traditional, relatively benevo-
lent authoritarian regimes, and at the other, totalitarian governments of
the Nazi and Soviet variety (Walter, 1969 ; Reich, 1990 ; Chirot, 1994 ;
Herschman and Lieb, 1994 ; Glass, 1995 ; Robins and Post, 1997 ).
Although many of the obser vations made in this article will refer to both
positions, special attention will be given to the extreme, most intrusive
position: totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism
This term is used by the afore - mentioned writers to refer to the most
dangerous extreme of the control spectrum — that is, regimes under