Fear and violence are not enough for any dictator to govern: these strategies may be essential to achieve power and even to maintain it for a time, but they are not usually effective in the long term. The paradox of the modern dictator is that he must create the illusion of popular support, since only a tyrant whose government is capable of inspiring idolatry in the people will be able to perpetuate himself. In Dictators, Frank Dikötter examines eight of the most effective personality cults of the 20th century: those that, through strategies ranging from carefully choreographed military parades to the establishment of strict censorship, were fully aware of the image they wanted to project and encourage.
