Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan

The Revolutionary Totalitarian Personality

Hitler, Mao, Castro, and Chávez

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Buy print copy

Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Keywords

  • Totalitarianism
  • political psychology
  • charismatic leadership
  • revolution
  • Adolf Hitler
  • Mao Zedong
  • Fidel Castro
  • Hugo Chávez
  • identity
  • personality
  • political science
  • politics
  • psychology
  • self
  • social science

About this book

This book uses the case studies of Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Hugo Chávez in order to introduce the concept of revolutionary totalitarian personality, and to show that this type of personality is decisive in choosing a totalitarian regime-building project and in shaping the ensuing totalitarian process.

Reviews

“Tudoroiu (Univ. of West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) offers a conceptual framework in political psychology that explains the rise of totalitarian political regimes around the globe. He introduces the concept of revolutionary totalitarian personality as part of authoritarian personality literature. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” (S. Mitropolitski, Choice, Vol. 54 (2), October, 2016)

"If you wonder what Hitler, Mao, Castro, and Chávez share in common, read this book. Tudoroiu shows them to have similar type family upbringings which contribute to similar totalitarian styles of leadership. The book forces you to think differently about revolutions." – Susan Eckstein, Boston University, USA, and author of Back from the Future: Cuba under Castro

"In this timely exploration of a complex and nuanced political phenomenon, Theodor Tudoroiu not only dispels the myth that totalitarianism died after the implosion of the Soviet Union but through his exploration of the concept of revolutionary totalitarian personality, challenges dominant perceptions about what constitutes a totalitarian regime. In turn Tudoroiu's engaging exploration of totalitarian regimes offers pointers for the possibilities of new, religious forms of totalitarianism and how they might emerge from otherwise 'traditional' democracies. This book serves as a major theoretical contribution tothe study of totalitarian ideology and authority and will be of enduring value to everyone interested in the persistence of totalitarian regimes." – Dr Matt Killingsworth, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Tasmania, Australia

"Dr Theodor Tudoroiu makes a serious attempt to shed light on the nature, texture and consequences of a unique type of leadership: totalitarian dictator. After careful thought and exhaustive research the author settles on the three such leaders representing three distinct cultural, geographic and historical settings: Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro. This well written, exhaustively researched, and pioneering work is destined to become a point of reference on an important but neglected topic." – Constantine P. Danopoulos, President's Scholar and Professor of Political Science, San Jose State University, USA

"This multi-layered analysis of totalitarian dictators weaves together an interdisciplinary argument (spanning totalitarianism to political psychology) and comparatively applies it to Hitler, Mao, Castro and (intuitively) Chavez. Understanding leaders able to create highly personalized, charismatic relationships with responsive publics promotes a more mature understanding of non-democratic leadership, a must for contemporary politics." – Carol Strong, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas at Monticello, USA

About the author

Dr Theodor Tudoroiu earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Université de Montréal, Canada. He is currently Lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine.   

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Revolutionary Totalitarian Personality

  • Book Subtitle: Hitler, Mao, Castro, and Chávez

  • Authors: Theodor Tudoroiu

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-47347-9Published: 06 January 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-57794-1Published: 27 February 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 203

Publish with us