A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships but can be found in some democracies as well. A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system

A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders.

Background

Throughout history, monarchs were almost always held in enormous reverence. History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Through the principle of the divine right of kings, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God. The Divine Right of Kings is a general term that refers to the philosophy and ideas used to justify the authority and legitimacy of Monarchs in Medieval and God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Imperial China (see Mandate of Heaven), ancient Egypt, Japan, the Inca, the Aztecs, Tibet, and the Roman Empire (see imperial cult) are especially noted for redefining monarchs as god-kings. Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River ( valley in the Neolithic era The Mandate of Heaven (天命 Pīnyīn: Tiānmìng is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial An Imperial cult is a form of State religion in which an Emperor, or a Dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title are Worshiped as

The resurgence of ancient Greek democratic ideas in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura. However, the subsequent development of photography, sound recording, film and mass production, as well as public education and techniques used in commercial advertising, enabled political leaders to project a positive image like never before. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Mass production (also called flow production, repetitive flow production, series production, or serial production) is the production of Public education is education mandated for or offered to the children of the general public by the Government, whether national regional or local provided by an institution Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand It was with these circumstances in the 20th century that the best-known personality cults arose.

Purpose

Generally, personality cults are most common in regimes with totalitarian systems of government, that seek to radically alter or transform society according to revolutionary new ideas. Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private A revolutionary when used as a noun is a person who either actively engages in some kind of Revolution, or advocates the revolution with recognition from some government or Often, a single leader becomes associated with this revolutionary transformation, and he becomes treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation, without whom the transformation to a better future cannot occur. This has been generally the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies of the 20th century, such as that of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party

Not all dictatorships foster personality cults, however, and some leaders may actively seek to minimize their own public adulation. Similarly in the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia, the image of Pol Pot himself was rarely seen. Saloth Sar ( May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998) also known as Pol Pot, was leader of the Communist movement known as The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East

Examples from totalitarian regimes

1963 Spanish peseta coin with the image of Francisco Franco,Caudillo de España, por la gracia de Dios

The criticism of personality cults often focuses on the regimes of Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Josip Broz Tito, Mao, Ceaușescu, Saddam Hussein, Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The peseta ( ISO 4217 code ESP standard abbreviation Pta Pts or Ptas Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid Caudillo is a Spanish ( caudilho in Portuguese word usually used to designate "a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power By the Grace of God, as well as the various equivalent phrases in other languages thus rendered in English, is not a title in its own right but a common introductory part Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led Nicolae Ceauşescu (nikoˈlaje tʃauˈʃesku (January 26 1918 – December 25 1989 was the communist dictator of Romania from 1965 until December 1989 when a revolution Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( Arabic: ar صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي --> April 28 1937 &ndash December 30 Kim Il-sung ( 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in early Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born 16 February 1941 Vyatskoye, Soviet Union; official biographies state 16 February 1942 Baekdu During the peak of their reigns, these leaders were presented as god-like and infallible. Their portraits were hung in homes and public buildings, and artists and poets were instructed legally to produce only works that glorified the leader and their political movements. Other undemocratic leaders with such cults include leaders such as Eva Peron of Argentina and her husband Juan. María Eva Duarte de Perón' ( May 7 1919 &ndash July 26 1952) was the second wife of President Juan Domingo Perón For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Juan Domingo Perón (October 8 1895 &ndash July 1 1974 was an Argentine Colonel and Politician, elected three times as President of Argentina The term cult of personality comes from Karl Marx's critique of the "cult of the individual" - expressed in a letter to German political worker, Wilhelm Bloss. In that, Marx states thus:

From my antipathy to any cult of the individual, I never made public during the existence of the [1st] International the numerous addresses from various countries which recognized my merits and which annoyed me. . . Engels and I first joined the secret society of Communists on the condition that everything making for superstitious worship of authority would be deleted from its statute. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who

Nikita Khrushchev recalled Marx's criticism in his 1956 "Secret Speech" denouncing Stalin to the 20th Party Congress:

Comrades, the cult of the individual acquired such monstrous size chiefly because Stalin himself, using all conceivable methods, supported the glorification of his own person. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following On the Personality Cult and its Consequences (О культе личности и его последствиях commonly known as the Secret Speech or the The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during February 14 26 1956. . . . One of the most characteristic examples of Stalin's self-glorification and of his lack of even elementary modesty is the edition of his Short Biography, which was published in 1948. ^[1].

This book is an expression of the most dissolute flattery, an example of making a man into a godhead, of transforming him into an infallible sage, "the greatest leader," "sublime strategist of all times and nations. " Finally no other words could be found with which to lift Stalin up to the heavens.

We need not give here examples of the loathsome adulation filling this book. All we need to add is that they all were approved and edited by Stalin personally and some of them were added in his own handwriting to the draft text of the book.

Journalist Bradley Martin documented the personality cults of North Korea's father-son leadership, "Eternal (formerly Great) Leader" Kim Il-sung and "Great (formerly Dear) Leader" Kim Jong-il. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, Kim Il-sung ( 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in early Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born 16 February 1941 Vyatskoye, Soviet Union; official biographies state 16 February 1942 Baekdu ^[2] While visiting North Korea in 1979 he noted that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il. ^[2] Kim Il-sung rejected the notion that he had created a cult around himself and accused those who suggested so of "factionalism. WikipediaManual of Style#National varieties of English.-->A political faction "^[2] A US religious freedom investigation confirmed Martin's observation that North Korean schoolchildren learn to thank Kim Il-sung for all blessings as part of the cult. ^[3]

Former President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan is another oft-cited cultivator of a cult of personality. Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow (θɑːpɑːrmɯːrɑːt niːjɑːðɒv ( 19 February, 1940, Gypjak, Turkmen SSR, Soviet Union Turkmenistan ( Türkmenistan; also known as Turkmenia) is a Turkic country in Central Asia. ^[4][5][6] Niyazov simultaneously cut funding to and partially disassembled the education system in the name of 'reform,' while injecting ideological indoctrination into it by requiring all schools to take his own book, the Ruhnama, as its primary text. Ruhnama ( The Book of the Soul, from Arabic روح rūḥ (soul and Persian نامه nāmeh ^[7][8] During Niyazov's rule there was no freedom of the press nor was there freedom of speech. This further meant that opposition to Niyazov was strictly forbidden and "major opposition figures have been imprisoned, institutionalized, deported, or have fled the country, and their family members are routinely harassed by the authorities. "^[9] Additionally, a silhouette of Niyazov was placed on the screen of all television broadcasts^[10] and statues and pictures of him were 'erected everywhere. '^[11]. For these, and other reasons, the US Government has gone on to claim that by the time he died, "Niyazov’s personality cult. . . had reached the dimensions of a state-imposed religion. "^[12].

University of Chicago professor Lisa Wedeen's book, "Ambiguities of Domination" documents the cult of personality which surrounded late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Lisa Wedeen is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago specializing in comparative politics the Middle East, political theory and Hafez al-Assad (حافظ الأسد) ( October 6, 1930 &ndash June 10, 2000) was president of Syria, for three Numerous examples of his glorification are made throughout the book, such as displays of love and adoration for the "leader" put on at the opening ceremonies of the 1987 Mediterranean Games in Lattakia Syria. The 10th (X edition of the Mediterranean Games was held in Latakia, Syria from the 11th to the 25th of September 1987

References

See also

• Anax
• Apotheosis
• Big Brother
• Charisma
• Charismatic authority
• Cult of Personality (song)
• Dictator
• Emperor
• God-King
• High King
• King of Kings
• Monarch
• Propaganda