Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present

by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

The drive to accumulate and control bodies, territory, and wealth is a hallmark of strongman rule. The leader needs these possessions as much as he needs food and sleep. The rituals and pageantry of authoritarian rule, from rallies for the masses to the elite gatherings staged at private spaces like Hitler’s Berghof retreat, Mobutu’s Gbadolite palaces, and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, play to his bottomless need for control and adoration. Of course, having it all is never enough for men who live in a secret state of dread at losing everything. Even as the strongman proclaims his infallibility, he is pursued by the demon of fear. He’s wary of the people he represses; of foreign patrons and international forces who may sanction him or arrange for his ouster; of individuals who might prosecute him; of elites who can turn on him; and of enemies who wish to remove him from the face of the earth. Fear is why such rulers use blackmail and clientelism to tie people to them, why they throw on a cloak of masculine invincibility, and why they seek out other strongmen as partners who will legitimate their authoritarian worldview. Many despots build palaces and bunkers to store their loot, and when their hubris and mismanagement bring about crises, hide in them to escape their people.