Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes

I shall accept the denomination of pathocracy for a system

of government thus created, wherein a small pathological mi-

nority takes control over a society of normal people. The name

thus selected, above all, emphasizes the basic quality of the

macrosocial psychopathological phenomenon, and differenti-

ates it from the many possible social systems dominated by

normal people’s structure, custom, and law.

I tried to find a name which would more clearly designate

the psychopathological, even psychopathic quality of such a

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PATHOCRACY

government, but I gave up because of certain perceived phe-

nomena (to be referred to below) and for practical considera-

tions (to avoid lengthening the denomination). Such a name

sufficiently indicates the phenomenon’s basic quality and also

emphasizes that the ideological cloak (or some other ideology

which cloaked similar phenomena in the past) does not consti-

tute its essence. When I happened to hear that a Hungarian

scientist unknown to me had already used this term, my deci-

sion was finalized. I think this name is consistent with the de-

mands of semantics, since no concise term can adequately

characterize such a complex phenomenon. I shall also hence-

forth designate the social systems wherein the links of normal

people dominate in any way as “the systems of normal man”.

More on the Contents of the Phenomenon

The achievement of absolute domination by pathocrats in

the government of a country cannot be permanent since large

sectors of the society become disaffected by such rule and

eventually find some way of toppling it. This is part of the

historical cycle, easily discerned when history is read from a

ponerological point of view. Pathocracy at the summit of gov-

ernmental organization also does not constitute the entire pic-

ture of the “mature phenomenon”. Such a system of govern-

ment has nowhere to go but down.

In a pathocracy, all leadership positions, (down to village

headman and community cooperative managers, not to mention

the directors of police units, and special services police person-

nel, and activists in the pathocratic party) must be filled by

individuals with corresponding psychological deviations,

which are inherited as a rule. However, such people constitute

a very small percentage of the population and this makes them

more valuable to the pathocrats. Their intellectual level or pro-

fessional skills cannot be taken into account, since people rep-

resenting superior abilities are even harder to find. After such a

system has lasted several years, one hundred percent of all the

cases of essential psychopathy are involved in pathocratic ac-

tivity; they are considered the most loyal, even though some of

them were formerly involved on the other side in some way.

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195

Under such conditions, no area of social life can develop

normally, whether in economics, culture, science, technology,

administration, etc. Pathocracy progressively paralyzes every-

thing. Normal people must develop a level of patience beyond

the ken of anyone living in a normal man’s system just in order

to explain what to do and how to do it to some obtuse medioc-

rity of a psychological deviant who has been placed in charge

of some project that he cannot even understand, much less

manage. This special kind of pedagogy – instructing deviants

while avoiding their wrath - requires a great deal of time and

effort, but it would otherwise not be possible to maintain toler-

able living conditions and necessary achievements in the eco-

nomic area or intellectual life of a society. Even with such ef-

forts, pathocracy progressively intrudes everywhere and dulls

everything.

Those people who initially found the original ideology at-

tractive eventually come to the realization that they are in fact

dealing with something else that has taken its place under the

old name. The disillusionment experienced by such former

ideological adherents is bitter in the extreme. Thus, the patho-

logical minority’s attempts to retain power will be threatened

by the society of normal people, whose criticism keeps grow-

ing.

Therefore, to mitigate the threat to their power, the

pathocrats must employ any and all methods of terror and ex-

terminatory policies against individuals known for their patri-

otic feelings and military training; other, specific “indoctrina-

tion” activities such as those we have presented are also util-

ized. Individuals lacking the natural feeling of being linked to

normal society become irreplaceable in either of these activi-

ties. Again, the foreground of this type of activity is occupied