The Pursuit of Power

The Pursuit of Power

An inquiry into the psychology of political leadership

 * Ravi Kumar Pillai

Narcissus, the legendary hunter prince in Greek mythology, is said to have fallen  in love with his own image. His love for self grew so intense that it blinded him from the realities surrounding him. Today, more than half of the world population  are ruled by  political leaders with perverse self-image. Not just in politics, but in various fields across contemporary culture,  narcissists thrive. Psychologists say power and the adulation that goes with it are so intoxicating  that lesser mortals who enjoy the same for prolonged period tend to develop empathy-deficit and an intense love for eulogy.

For every high-perched leader with gargantuan ego,  there are countless ordinary citizens who  meekly surrender their free will and rational choices. Streams of migrant labour walking back to villages in the wake of lockdown uncertainties highlight the helplessness and deprivation resulting from the insensitivity of the governing elite of whatever hues.

Power has been an enigmatic concept all through human history. Quite simply, power is the ability to influence the thoughts and actions of others. It has been the key lever of political authority and has significantly impacted the course of history, economics and social change. Power ‘by hook or crook’ has become a long enduring cliché.

In modern society, hardly anything can be accomplished by solo efforts. Collaboration and synergies of cooperation bring in results. Most tasks are too complex and demanding that people need to work in tandem to produce the desired outcome. It is so in government, business, academics or any other social domain.

Organizations are structured in hierarchies, with responsibility and accountability assigned to individual role holders. The structure implies that those at higher levels have the power to direct and control their teams. Due to this formal nature of authority ladder, power has assumed an aura of status and prestige. A close look at behavioural dynamics would, however, reveal the fallacy of this presumptive power structure. There is just so much that authority by diktat can deliver.  The simple truth is that power cannot be given, it can only be earned.

In his seminal book, “Power Paradox,” Dr. Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology in University of California, Berkeley argues that effective power is all about empathy, gratitude and kindness. Power is far from the medieval concept of brute force to ram decisions down the throat of  submissive subjects. Twenty First Century Power thrives on collaboration and enablement. However, the irony is that many popular political leaders who rise to power based on inclusive and aspirational promises tend to demonstrate arrogance and contrived discretions once in power.

Whether Trump, Modi,  Xi or Putin, narcissist ego-centricity and attempts to bulldoze dissent are all too obvious in the current crop of world leaders. Whether the political ideology is left, right or centre doesn’t inhibit hard-power leadership styles.

Behaviourally, power is to be understood as an emotional continuum – while on one end of the spectrum the pursuers of power might carry aggression to the point of bullying, the targets of the power-play  often surrender their own reasoning and discretion, all too willingly. The subjugation of free will to the pressures of manipulations is a tragedy of the psychology of politics.

Social and political power needs to be understood in the overall context of the national culture. The 6-Dimensional National Culture Index developed by Prof.  Geert Hofstede, Professor of Organizational Anthropology at Maastricht University (Netherlands), who died in February this year, is a well-respected instrument to map the contours of culture. The model defines the culture of a society in terms of six behavioural dimensions namely power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence. Of these, four dimensions are particularly relevant in understanding the behavioural side of power.  Let us look at these aspects of culture that support and sustain leadership arrogance and empathy-deficit in public life.

Power Distance expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of society accept and abide by the unequal treatment meted out to them.  India has a high Power Distance Index score of 77 out of 100. We are an unabashedly unequal society where the poorer and underprivileged  are at a great power disadvantage. This is not a surprise finding for a country with entrenched caste and sectarian biases.

Examples of power distance at play in Indian society are aplenty. Political families where sons and grandsons of the patriarch assume the mantle akin to the successor taking over the traditional business reins is a fallout of high-power distance. Another glaring display of elevated power distance is the presence of multiple godmen and women in the country. Similarly, the exalted stardom of cine artists or cricketers stems from the willingness of fans to part with objectivity in favour of subservience to a well-cultivated ‘super-hero’ image. Ideally the fans are more powerful than the artists or sportsmen, because they can and should judge and approve better quality films and performances. If you want to witness crass display of emotional servitude, one has only to go to Chennai streets on a day when a Rajnikant or Surya film is being released!

Individualism vs Collectivism, can be defined as a preference for selfishness viz-a-viz collaborative spirit. India as a nation has a moderate score of 48. On power behaviour, the moderate score is a check on recklessness. However, the occasional leader who emerges with a sharply aggressive style tends to overwhelm the average Indian who is by and large compromising and consensus-oriented.

Masculinity as a cultural dimension drives result orientation. At 56, the masculinity score for India is moderate. When the public is tolerant and restrained, the leaders who demonstrate aggressive masculinity are held in awe and followed almost to the point of blind submission. That is exactly what happened in the Emergency period under Indira Gandhi. When asked to kneel, our institutions and individuals crawled. Even in normal times submission to brute power is an inherent weakness of a predominantly soft culture. The apathy and fatalistic resignation towards repetitive terrorist attacks in the past as well as the grudging resignation to the culture of hartals and bundhs in Kerala are results of the blunted masculinity score. Coupled with the high power-distance in the stratified Indian society, orchestrated machoism can hold enormous sway over the masses.

Indulgence is the extent of socialisation internalised by individuals as they grow up. It is a measure of realistic alignment with societal needs and priorities over selfish pursuits.  A low score of 26 means that Indians are more likely than Swedes (78), British (69) or Americans (68) to seek personal gratification at the expense of social interests. In terms of political power play, this means that people might be ready to be overwhelmed by the leader’s promises and dole out.

Taking the four key dimensions of social behaviour together, the stage is set for highly manipulative political leadership styles in the country. Language, caste, regionalism, religion or social stratification of any sort would be latched on to in order to cement own vote banks and to pit people against one another.

The only remedy for the distortions in the political dynamics is the triple vaccine of education, empowerment and engagement. The weak areas of our national culture such as power distance, individualism and indulgence have to be improved through genuinely inclusive, socially relevant and empowerment-oriented general education. But for that to happen, structural guarantees should be laid down through independent and constitutionally guaranteed National Education Commission with powers to set, regulate and upgrade public education. Higher Secondary level education has the potential to be an effective transformational agenda for our society to higher levels of competence, confidence and collaboration.  An informed and engaged electorate that can safeguard itself against being emotionally manipulated is the recipe for empathetic and healthy political power.

 

*Ravi Kumar Pillai is an author, Coach and Consultant based in Trivandrum and can be contacted at ravikumarpillai9(@gmail.com