THE SPIRIT OF DESPOTISM 149a new type of social life or a new kind of human being. Russia
under Stalin would be a good example of a totalitarian regime, while
Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe can be considered to be a more
authoritarian example.
Setting the scene for tyranny
Whenever people gather in groups, there is the potential for the abuse
of power. The early civilizations that grew up along great rivers such as
the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Yangtze, the Yellow River, and
the Ganges clamored for leaders to give the management of these public
water supplies a modicum of centralized direction. A brief look at history
tells us, however, that centralized leadership can easily become per-
verted. For example, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and
the pre - Columbian Central and South American cultures all positioned
an absolute, often despotic ruler at the center of their ruling bureaucracy.
We also can observe, however, the rise and inevitable fall of such
regimes.
Despots are often leaders with the foresight to take personal advan-
tage of a chaotic situation, such as situations of war or class war. An
obvious example here is Germany after World War I, dealing with a
sense of national humiliation and a class struggle verging on civil war —
the situation in which Hitler gradually rose to power. Consider China,
still haunted by the affront of Western powers intruding in their sover-
eignty, a process that started in the nineteenth century. The lingering
memory of such indignities creates typical breeding grounds for tyranny.
Societies in which democratic traditions and institutions are still lacking
or are poorly developed, societies with weak political systems and/or an
ineffective judiciary, and societies in severe economic distress, seem to
be particularly vulnerable. These social conditions, especially occurring
together, facilitate a power grab by a power - hungry despot.
Nations just emerging from colonial or communist rule have been
particularly vulnerable — as demonstrated in the emergence in the twen-
tieth century of some of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in
history. Such nations have had institutions imposed on them — institu-
tions not rooted in their original culture — making them susceptible to
subsequent despotism. Many such examples can be seen in the history
of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The proliferation of recent, new
dictatorships in countries formerly belonging to the Soviet Union and
increasingly, the ‘ new ’ Russia, provides further illustration of this
vulnerability.