The Deadly Mix of Cults and Democracy: How Modern Leaders Undermine Democracy for their own Benefit

Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Staff Writer

July 5th, 2021

On their heads, the Roman Emperors wore a gold laurel wreath to signify not only their political authority but also their divinity. The Emperors were elevated to godhood. The concept that a political leader is a deity is ludicrous in today's reality. We understand that our political leaders are human beings with flaws. Some leaders, on the other hand, are idealized and, essentially, worshiped. A personality cult is characterized by such commitment and admiration. The notion behind a personality cult is that the individual becomes a more legitimate source of authority than the government itself, thus the person rather than the position inspires allegiance.

Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong of Communist China, Chiang Kai-Shek of the Chinese Nationalist Party, and Kim Il Sung of North Korea have all been studied in the past. These strongmen were the source of power in their respective nations, leading to weakened political and justice systems. Their word was law. They often rose through the ranks of a faction either by their sheer charisma, use of force, or political shrewdness. However, as time passed, these sorts of regimes died out. The collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the growth of social media and democracy movements, meant that these malign governments collapsed as soon as their figurehead died. Nonetheless, a worrying concept has recently emerged. A number of leaders have hijacked democracy and have now cemented themselves as strongmen, great men who (in their eyes) deserve to lead the country for a long period or even for life.

Unfortunately, there are worrying signs that more democracies are succumbing to autocracies. Supporters idolizing their leaders without questioning or holding them accountable for their actions. The “free press” behaves more like a “captive press,” deliberately endorsing such leaders' “superiority and infallibility.” When a result, as a personality cult develops, even democratically elected leaders may develop dangerous arrogance. Leaders behave autocratically because of their admiration, forgetting that they are public servants. Coercion becomes the norm rather than consensus and compromise, eroding democracy.

What is noticeable is that some of these autocratic leaders have emerged arose during a period of state instability. President Erdogan became autocratic after a July 2016 coup failed to depose him, President Putin rose to power when the new Russian Federation was on the verge of collapse, due to economic and economic issues, which a drunk and idiotic Boris Yeltsin failed to deal with. It might be argued that the existing institutions of the state, such as the military and the government, failed to meet the necessities of the populace, such as security and food, and hence were weak and susceptible to radical change.

Turkey appeared to be an emerging democracy with a strong civil society and somewhat independent media a little more than a decade ago. That is no longer the case. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has abandoned democracy in favor of establishing a strongman personality cult. Mr. Erdogan has sought to stifle all forms of criticism since he survived a failed coup d’état in 2016 (which nearly deposed him). The President has been arresting and jailing journalists for years now. According to Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, Turkey is ranked 153rd out of 180 countries, just ahead of Brunei (I’ve been told it’s not a coveted spot).

Whenever a problem arises, Mr. Erdogan tends to blame outside sources, such as Fethullah Gulen, a preacher residing in Pennsylvania or foreign countries, God forbid he does anything wrong! However, there are mistakes that slightly harder to pin on someone else, such as the handling of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the country. Mr. Erdogan is constructing a dictatorship based on his personal power, replacing critical media with propaganda institutions, suppressing independent civil society organizations, and sacking hundreds of academics without due process.

Another symptom of personality cult creation is the naming of locations, days, streets, and other things after a leader. This approach instills the leader's name in the minds of the people for the rest of their lives, as well as presenting him with a consistent public presence. It is also a friendly reminder of whom you should vote for! The Modi administration renamed the world's largest cricket stadium, built at a cost of more than $100 million and bearing the name of one of India's most famous founding fathers, the Narendra Modi Stadium. A few days later, a satellite with a portrait of Modi was blasted into the sky by the country's space agency. Hopefully, aliens will gain the right to vote in the next Indian General Elections.

Once in office, Modi tried to canonize himself as a father of "New India" his admirers. The chief minister of the central indigenous state of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan told a crowd two years after Modi entered office, the prime ministry was "the divine gift of God to India." However, Mr. Modi seems more like a curse rather than a god. India has been recently ravaged by a second wave of Coronavirus infections. The government utterly failed to anticipate a new wave of infections, due to a slow vaccination rate and the holding of political rallies. Indians were left to die, as many individuals failed to secure oxygen for their loved ones, while others failed to find a place at a hospital.

While democracy is imperfect, it is the only system that best meets today's shifting demands. Whether democracy is capitalist or socialist, a democratic environment that fosters freedom of thought and dissension is necessary. Leaders and parties must stimulate the spirit of investigation and reject the dogma of the development and flourishing of democratic circumstances. In the absence of that, democracy may suffer the fate of unstable autocracies or falling apart. In order for democracy to function, supporters have to have an active role in the political process. They need to pay serious attention to policies and problems and not only rely on the hype of the leaders around them.