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Cult of personality or personality cult is a term for what is perceived to be excessive adulation of a single living leader. The term was coined by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev soon after the death of Joseph Stalin, but the phenomenon he described is much older.
A Cult of Personality differs from charismatic authority in that by definition it has a negative connotation and is thus in essence a pejorative term. And it differs from general hero worship in that it is specifically about political leaders.
History
Throughout history there have always been leaders who have demanded excessive adulation.
The Roman Republic was originally free of leader-worship, but this soon gave way to the lifetime cult of dictator Julius Caesar. Deeply resented by patrician republicans, the level of obedience demanded by his regime paved the way for the imperial family cult of the Roman Empire.
During the period in which absolute monarchies ruled most of the world, kings and queens were almost always held in enormous revere. Through the principle of divine right of kings, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God Himself, and thus criticism of any leader could be interpreted as blasphemous.
As centuries progressed and societies grew more liberal and democratic, blind obedience to the leader began to give way to criticism and debate. By the start of the 20th Century most nations in the West, and to some degree elsewhere, had embraced the idea that criticism was both a normal and healthy element of the political process. Yet at the same time many other states resisted democratic reforms, and in some cases aggressively opposed liberalism. It was in this context that some of the world's most well-known personality cults were formed.
The extreme cult of personality as we think of it today, is thus a fairly contemporary phenomenom. Like the concept of totalitarianism in general, personality cults are often seen as a product of modern technology, and thus could not be achieved in earlier eras, before the existence of things such as television, movies, and radio.
Characteristics
Personality cults usually characterize totalitarian states or countries which have recently experienced revolutions. The reputation of a single leader, often characterized as the "liberator" or "savior" of the people, elevates that leader to an almost divine level.
The leader's picture appears everywhere, as do statues and other monuments to the leader's greatness and wisdom. The leader's slogans and other quotes cover massive billboards, and books containing the leader's speeches and writings fill up the bookstores and libraries. The level of flattery can reach heights which may appear absurd to outsiders.
For example, during the Cultural Revolution, all Chinese works, including scientific papers, had a quote from Mao Zedong, and all quotes from Mao appeared highlighted in boldface or in red.
Personality cults aim to make the leader and the state seem synonymous, so it becomes impossible to comprehend the existence of one without the other. It also helps justify the often harsh rule of a dictatorship, and propagandize the citizens into believing that the leader operates as a kind and just ruler. In addition, cults of personality often arise out of an effort to quash opposition within a ruling elite. Both Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin used their cults of personality to help crush their political opponents.
The creation of such a vast cult often led to criticism of the regimes of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong in particular. During the peak of their reigns both these leaders appeared as god-like omniscient rulers, destined to rule their nation for all eternity. Government orders prescribed the hanging of their portraits in every home and public building, and many artists and poets were instructed to only produce works that glorified the leader.
To justify this level of worship, both Mao and Stalin tried to present themselves as personally humble and modest, and would often characterize their vast personality cults as nothing more than a spontaneous show of affection by their people. Stalin in particular used this excuse to justify the Communist Party's massive campaign of renaming things in his honor (see List of places named after Stalin).
Cults of personality can collapse very quickly after the ousting or death of the leader. Stalin and Mao both provide examples of this. In some cases, the leader formerly the subject of a cult of personality becomes vilified after his death, and often a massive effort at renaming and statue-removal ensues.
The term "personality cult" does not generally refer to showing respect for the dead (such as historic national founders like Lenin or George Washington), nor does it refer to honoring symbolic leaders who have no real power. The latter often occurs with monarchies, such as that of Thailand, in which the king or queen's image is respectfully displayed in many public places, but convention or law forbid them from converting this respect into real political power.
Other notable past personality cults included those of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam, Tito's Yugoslavia, Nicolae Ceauşescu's Romania, Enver Hoxha's Albania, the Dalai Lama in Tibet, Siad Barre's attempts in Somalia, Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt, and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Imperial Rome and the world of Hellenistic Greece displayed many pre-modern equivalents of cult of personality features, with ancient Egypt especially noted for elevating monarchs to the status of god kings.
Some current countries that feature personality cults include Kim Jong Il's North Korea (which succeeded that of his father, the late Kim Il Sung), Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya, Fidel Castro's Cuba, and Saparmurat Niyazov's Turkmenistan.
Cults of personality do not appear universal among all totalitarian or authoritarian societies. A few of the world's most oppressive regimes have in fact exhibited little to no worship of the leader. The Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia and the theocratic Taliban government of Afghanistan lacked many of the trappings of cults of personality, and the leaders in these regimes remained almost anonymous. In these cases, the lack of a cult of personality seems partly motivated by the desire to project an image of a faceless but omniscient and omnipresent state. In other cases, such as the post-Mao People's Republic of China, authorities frown upon the establishment of a cult of personality for fear it may upset the balance of power between the leaders within the political elite.
The most famous fictional cult of personality is probably that of Big Brother in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The character was possibly based on Britain's Earl Kitchener although more likely based on Stalin.
The cult of the personality in a state as described hereabove seems similar to the functioning of person-centered leadership in some cults. When the followers accept the charismatic authority of a person (e.g. a guru, or saint, or avatar) then this personality cult can take strong forms. Sometimes, cults or new religious movements defend this practice by comparing their living leader to mainstream religions like Christianity in which Jesus was venerated when he was still alive (some, like David Koresh of the Branch Davidians, took it one step closer by claiming to be on the same spiritual level as Jesus), or to the Ishta-Deva (chosen deity) principle in Hinduism.
Related meanings
By analogy, the political term cult of personality has been extended to refer to media obsession with celebrities or ego-driven corporate management.