Book Review | How Authoritarianism Takes Hold of a Society and Grows and Sustains Itself
The HinduPublished : Jan 27, 2025 23:23 IST - 4 MINS READ The brutal reality of history is that dark times have been its signature tune and “autocracy” its default condition. The veteran scholarly diplomat Ambassador Rajiv Dogra’s book Autocrats: Charisma, Power, and Their Lives cites real-life instances and situations to show how an authoritarian cult takes hold of society, grows, and sustains itself. Autocrats: Charisma, Power, and Their Lives By Rajiv Dogra Rupa Publications Pages: 352 Price: Rs.795 The book gives a sense of the 20th century experience as a crucial case in point during which close to 170 million people died under ruthless dictators ranging from Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Nicolae Ceauşescu to Saddam Hussein. Thus, an appeal for democracy can be a smokescreen for majoritarian tyranny, a sort of cyclical form aptly captured by Victor Hugo when he said: “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.” Dogra justifies the inclusion of colonialists in the same category as autocrats by characterising them as “tyrants” for they displayed a similar contempt for the people they ruled for several centuries. Ultimately, the responsibility to save democracy rests with people, who possess the ability to make prudent choices when selecting leaders, a sentiment well articulated by Charlie Chaplin in his 1940 film, The Great Dictator: “People have the power to make this life free and beautiful… dictators free themselves but they enslave the people.” Mahatma Gandhi made a pertinent point: “It is not good for us to worship an individual.
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