The Psychology of Dictatorship - Hardcover

Moghaddam, Fathali M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1433812983 ISBN 13: 9781433812989

Publisher: American Psychological Association, 2013

Synopsis

In this book, Fathali M. Moghaddam presents his “springboard model” of dictatorship, derived from both a substantive analysis of the common structures underlying dictatorial regimes and his own personal experience of life in a modern dictatorship. He discusses the importance of psychological processes such as displacement of aggression, conformity, obedience, fear, and cognitive dissonance as tools that aid the development and maintenance of dictatorships, as well as the crucial role of ideology in cementing the allegiance of elites.

Since even democracies contain an ever-shifting relationship between democratic and dictatorial tendencies, with elements that can pull democracies back to dictatorship, this book has important implications for citizens of all nations, even our own.

About this title

About the Author:

Fathali M. Moghaddam, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the director of the Conflict Resolution Program, Department of Government at Georgetown University.
 
Dr. Moghaddam was born in Iran, educated from an early age in England, and worked for the United Nations and for McGill University before joining Georgetown in 1990.
 
He returned to Iran in the spring of revolution in 1979 and was researching there during the hostage-taking crisis and the early years of the Iran–Iraq War. He has conducted experimental and field research in numerous cultural contexts and published extensively on radicalization, intergroup conflict, human rights and duties, and the psychology of globalization.
 
His most recent books include Multiculturalism and Intergroup Relations (2008); How Globalization Spurs Terrorism (2008); The New Global Insecurity (2010); Words of Conflict, Words of War (2010, with Rom Harré); and Psychology for the Third Millennium (2012, with Rom Harré).
 
Dr. Moghaddam is the next editor of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, and he has received a number of recognitions for his scholarly contributions, the most recent being the Outstanding International Psychologist Award for 2012 from APA Division 52 (Division of International Psychology).
 

Review:

This book is an important reminder of the ongoing worldwide struggle against dictatorship and of the historical and contemporary role of psychology in understanding and contributing to this struggle. --PsycCRITIQUES

About this edition

• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1433812983
• ISBN 13: 9781433812989
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255