Big Caesars and Little Caesars: a warning from history

During Donald Trump’s presidency, a staging of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in New York caused uproar. The casting of Caesar’s character, a narcissistic dictator sporting a long red tie and boasting that he could stab his supporters’ mothers on main street, triggered resonances that unsettled many. Would-be Caesars, it seems, are with us still.

In his new book, Ferdinand Mount characterises Big Caesars and Little Caesars as lying on the same psychological spectrum, ranging from overblown bully boys and con artists like Boris Johnson to mass murderers like Vladimir Putin. What unites them is their pathological narcissism, their disdain for democracy, and their conviction that rules are for losers. They differ in their propensity for violence, which increases markedly as we move from the Little Caesar to the Big Caesar end of the spectrum.

In the first half of the book, Mount offers three critical insights on how Caesars come to power. First, he points out that the risk of authoritarian takeover is inherent to democracy since electoral politics provides a ladder to the top for demagogues who can selectively magnify the grievances of the electorate. Second, Mount highlights that the very qualities that make Caesars attractive to their supporters — their narcissism, rule-breaking, and lack of empathy — make them liabilities in ordinary life. Buffoons in the every day, they become national heroes when elevated to power. Third, Mount shows clearly, using Boris Johnson as an example, that even Little Caesars can do enormous damage to society.

The second half of the book, focusing on how Caesars fall, does not work quite as well. The case studies of failed coups throughout history differ significantly, and the lessons Mount draws on how to suppress a coup — the early use of force, the importance of intelligence gathering, and the need for clear and eloquent denunciation of the plotters — are arguably as useful to tyrants in power as they are to those trying to protect against them.

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Mount’s voice, though, is a welcome addition to this most vital of contemporary discussions. By drawing attention to the dangers of disordered personalities in politics, and the persistence of this phenomenon throughout history, Big Caesars and Little Caesars serves as another warning that this critical threat to democracy has still not been resolved.

• Ian Hughes is author of Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Democracy and a Senior Research Fellow at the MaREI Centre at UCC.