Dreams of Glory: Narcissism and Politics

Abstract

The arena of politics provides a natural environment for individuals with significant narcissistic personality traits, individuals who are consumed by dreams of glory. This article first reviews developmental pathways to the wounded self, using the example of Saddam Hussein, whose traumatic background led to the defensive adaptation of a fixated grandiose self. It also considers individuals who were raised to be special, such as President Woodrow Wilson and General Douglas MacArthur, and who were the vehicles of their parents’ success. The article then addresses the psychology of charismatic leader–follower relationships, where there is a natural fit between the mirror-hungry leader, seeking adulation, and his ideal-hungry followers, who feel incomplete unless they are attached to a great other. The chapter emphasizes the impaired interpersonal relationships of narcissistic characters, and how this can contribute to an imperfect evaluation of political reality, as the leadership circle tells the leader what he wants to hear rather than what he needs to hear.

Notes

2. ¹This section is drawn from Post (1993).

3. ²Andrew Morrison, in Shame: The Underside of Narcissism (1989), develops this important theme. Earlier social scientists, such as Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, sharply differentiated shame cultures from guilt cultures, the former only experiencing discomfort when their failures or shortcomings are not too exposed of the outside world, otherwise being quite comfortable as long as they were getting away with it unnoticed. Drawing on Thane (1979), who examined shame from a developmental perspective and its role in identity formation, Morrison emphasizes the importance of the internal audience as well.

4. ³This information was unearthed by the remarkable investigative scholarship of Amazia Baram, a leading Israeli scholar of Iraqi history. He interviewed the couple, whom he had traced to a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jerrold M. Post

Jerrold M. Post is Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology, and International Affairs, and Director, the Political Psychology Program, at The George Washington University.