This combined photo by The Korea Times shows, from left, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Kim Il-sung. Korea Times file



Dutch historian Frank Dikotter analyzes rise of dictators, their tactics to survive



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Frank Dikotter's "How to Be a Dictator" charts the rise of eight dictators, including the founder of North Korea Kim Il-sung and Mao Zedong of China, examining the mobilization of resources that allowed them to remain in power for decades.



Although the book deals with twentieth century dictators in Europe, communist countries and the developing world, the Dutch historian's book still relates to today's democratic nations in which political leaders are elected once their predecessors' tenures are terminated.



In some democratic nations, accusations of fake news became an excuse to repress the media. Some politicians depict critical stories as fake news and use such stories as a reason to repress ideas and to persecute dissenters and journalists.



In democratic nations, freedom of expression is in peril because of political leaders who use the idea of fake news to serve their own agendas.



In "Dictator," Dikotter says dictators are facing a complicated situation. "The paradox of the modern dictator, in short, is that he must create the illusion of popular support," his book reads.



The Dutch historian says dictatorship is the devastating result of the politicians' ceaseless endeavors to rise to power and their skillful campaigns to remove political rivals and weaken opponents and critics by using the propaganda machine to sustain their cult of personality.



"Who built up the cult? There were hagiographers, photographers, playwrights, composers, poets, editors, and choreographers," the book reads. "There were powerful ministers of propaganda, and sometimes entire branches of industry."



The rise of dictators is almost impossible without the propaganda apparatus. The media has been used to glorify them and disseminate their idiosyncratic ideas to brainwash their people.



The eight twentieth century dictators ― Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Francois Duvalier, Nicolae Ceausescu and Mengistu Haile Mariam ― mentioned in the book were the masters of media manipulation. According to Dikotter, they all had different personalities but what they had in common is that they "made all the key decisions that led to their own glorification."



It is no surprise that propaganda is an inevitable tool of sustaining a dictatorship. Their illegitimate rise to power and mismanagement of their economies, which led to widespread famine and poverty, needed to be justified to keep them in power.



One of the most commonly used ideas promoted in the media were that they were born leaders and saviors of their countries.





"How to be a Dictator" by Frank Dikotter, published by BLOOMSBURY