Cults of Personality

          The interaction between state and citizen is a complex and nuanced relationship. The existence of the state is incumbent on the support and consent of the citizens that comprise it. By the same token, citizens benefit from the rules and stability provided by the state and are dependent on the institutions created by its presence. It can be said that without this social contract  between the two, civil society can neither be created nor exist. To further complicate the co-dependence between the two, the objectives of one may not in fact mirror the aims of the other.  For instance, a state must remain separate from its citizens and civil society to be able to effectively enforce a rule of law upon the governed, even if unpopular. Citizens, left to their own devices may be more apt to fulfill self-interests eroding the solvency of the state.  The struggle to find balance between the goals of the state and its citizens is a continual conflict. Given the states' presumptive role as a steward of its populace and the conviction that citizens will not always act in a manner that supports the continued being of the state; a significant question that arises is what systems of citizen manipulation by states is most conducive to the preservation of state power. In other words, how do states stay in control? One method is in the veneration of the individual.

          Throughout history, those individuals given the authority to lead have held a distinctive and elevated position over the led. From humankind's austere beginnings as ragged groupings of people to the Age of Kings, the respective tribal leaders, chieftains and subsequent monarchs have possessed enormous power over their citizens and been venerated by them. As states developed, so did an understanding of the usefulness that specific individuals could play in the preservation of state power. The development of organized religion and the subsequent reverence of leaders as god-kings by their subjects is an example. Through the construction of religious and political doctrines, monarchs could assert their right to rule by the presumptive will of a higher power. Ruling through doctrines such as the Divine Right of Kings and the Mandate of Heaven ascribed the leader with god-like powers and the creation of the first widely recognized cults of personality (COP).  These COPs which were seen as direct representations of the state played an instrumental role in holding sway over the ruled masses and legitimizing the state. While the onset of new forms of government in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries would weaken and eventually destroy the institution of the monarch, globalization of the world, expansion of technology, and greater use of mass media would serve to create some of the most influential COPs and by association states in the twentieth century.

          A COP is created when governments attempt to introduce revolutionary or radical new ideas into a society, usually after a regime change or new system of government has been established . To help inculcate these ideas into a society, a single individual is chosen to serve as the patriarchal/matriarchal agent to safely shepherd the masses and act as the crusader and spearhead for the countries transformation.  The individual chosen exemplifies the values and beliefs of the new regime and will often come to symbolize the state itself. A COP may be the creation of the state or may be created from the actions of the individual who will become that personality within the cult.

          Methods of manipulating citizenry and COPs are an important subject deserving of study because the actions of the modern day state can often infringe on the rights of citizens. It can be said that there are many examples of nation states using COPs in unethical and unscrupulous manners, manipulating citizenry for reasons completely contrary to the will of the people and the social contract. While the most gross examples of this are obvious in despotic, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes (i.e. North Korea, Nazi Germany), the manipulation of a country's citizens for the preservation of state power is a practice employed by all states.  By understanding COPs and the mechanisms states use to manage their citizens we gain a much greater comprehension as to how our governments work and the ways in which citizens can influence change in states.